1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
12) What web resources are there ?
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
14) Can I run my car on it ?
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
16) What is a "Thumper" ?

**********************************************************************
1) Is distilling hard to do ?
Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can
sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand
what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your
belt before you begin.
2) Is it legal ?
Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries
turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment
ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is
usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more
generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through
excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential
legal ramifications.
3) Will it make me blind ?
Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore,
which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The
concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve
poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or
fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it
is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to
throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the
greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
extinguisher nearby.
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off
the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity,
with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot
still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose
a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by
having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and
allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the
packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase
the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the
purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will
result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with
flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense
all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down
the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and
packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little
space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+
pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 95.6%), with no other
tastes or impurities in it.
5) How do I get or make a still ?
If you're after a pot still, these are generally home made using what-ever
you have at hand - say copper tubing and old water heaters or pressure
cookers. Reflux stills can be made from plans on the net, or bought from
several manufacturers. For reflux stil plans see Stillmakers : http://stillmaker.dreamhost.com/ (free!) or Gert Strands : http://partyman.se/Engelsk/default.htm (US$5), or for a fractionating
column see Nixon & Stones : http://www.gin-vodka.com/ (US$8). See the list
of "web resources" below for links to sites selling ready-made stills.

Regarding the choice of heating for the still - if you have 240V available
it is usually easiest to control & safer (particularly with internal
elements). Gas can be used, but more care is needed to keep the collection
container further away and not letting it overfill.
6) How do I make a whisky / vodka / rum / gin ?
Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65C,
and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75C, then strain off and keep
liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30C
(should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast &
leave to ferment (maintain at 26C) until airlock stops bubbling and final
SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot
still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or
until you start noticing the tails coming through.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60g of nutrients in 20L of water, cool to
below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25C until below an SG
of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or
fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an
initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.06 - 1.07. Run through either a
pot still, or a not-so-great reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35g of
juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let
cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this
essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used
are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or
else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with
an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc
in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing
sites.
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make.
If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest
(usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow.
If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need
to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to
make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a
brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to
neutral spirit.
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to
impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel
oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a
reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one
way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux
occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of
the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little
bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a
week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
as "polishing" the spirit.
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The
more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the
hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much
alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the
density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is <
1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn vodka or
neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all manor of
liqueurs. See the commercial sites, like Des Zines http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms http://moonshine.co.nz/
for details.Or you can soak it with oak chips and make whiskey, or soak
fruits in it to make your own liqueurs.
12) What web resources are there ?
For more details, see :
Tony Ackland's http://www.geocities.com/kiwi_distiller
Aaron Smiths's http://www.go.to/distillation
Steve Spence's http://www.webconx.com/ethanol.htm
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via
Egroups, at http://www.egroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name
suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple,
straight-forward discussions, whereas the DISTILLERS group is a bit more
advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative
ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.
14) Can I run my car on it ?
You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. See Steve Spences
site for more details. In addition, in the USA, you can get a "small fuel
producer" permit, which allows small scale distilling for "motor fuel"
purposes. A nice advantage is that they don't require denaturing for "fuel"
used on the premises. The regulations are posted at http://www.webconx.com/ethanolusaregs.htm
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the
conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L
= 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 =
75.76 L

1 L = 0.264 US gal = 0.221 UK gal
1 L = 1.057 US qt = 0.880 UK qt
1 kg = 2.204 lbm = 32.15 oz (troy) = 35.27 oz (av)
deg F = ((9/5) x deg C )+ 32
1m = 1000 mm = 39.37 inch = 3.28 ft = 1.09 yd
16) What is a "Thumper" ?
A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be
as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the
still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the
bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or
tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then
the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a
second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts
the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a
very mediocre design.

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
12) What web resources are there ?
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
14) Can I run my car on it ?
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
16) What is a "Thumper" ?

**********************************************************************
1) Is distilling hard to do ?
Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can
sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand
what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your
belt before you begin.
2) Is it legal ?
Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries
turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment
ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is
usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more
generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through
excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential
legal ramifications.
3) Will it make me blind ?
Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore,
which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The
concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve
poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or
fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it
is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to
throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the
greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
extinguisher nearby.
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off
the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity,
with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot
still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose
a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by
having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and
allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the
packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase
the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the
purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will
result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with
flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense
all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down
the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and
packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little
space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+
pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 95.6%), with no other
tastes or impurities in it.
5) How do I get or make a still ?
If you're after a pot still, these are generally home made using what-ever
you have at hand - say copper tubing and old water heaters or pressure
cookers. Reflux stills can be made from plans on the net, or bought from
several manufacturers. For reflux stil plans see Stillmakers : http://stillmaker.dreamhost.com/ (free!) or Gert Strands : http://partyman.se/Engelsk/default.htm (US$5), or for a fractionating
column see Nixon & Stones : http://www.gin-vodka.com/ (US$8). See the list
of "web resources" below for links to sites selling ready-made stills.

Regarding the choice of heating for the still - if you have 240V available
it is usually easiest to control & safer (particularly with internal
elements). Gas can be used, but more care is needed to keep the collection
container further away and not letting it overfill.
6) How do I make a whisky / vodka / rum / gin ?
Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65C,
and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75C, then strain off and keep
liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30C
(should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast &
leave to ferment (maintain at 26C) until airlock stops bubbling and final
SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot
still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or
until you start noticing the tails coming through.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60g of nutrients in 20L of water, cool to
below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25C until below an SG
of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or
fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an
initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.06 - 1.07. Run through either a
pot still, or a not-so-great reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35g of
juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let
cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this
essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used
are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or
else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with
an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc
in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing
sites.
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make.
If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest
(usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow.
If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need
to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to
make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a
brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to
neutral spirit.
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to
impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel
oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a
reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one
way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux
occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of
the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little
bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a
week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
as "polishing" the spirit.
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The
more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the
hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much
alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the
density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is <
1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn vodka or
neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all manor of
liqueurs. See the commercial sites, like Des Zines http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms http://moonshine.co.nz/
for details.Or you can soak it with oak chips and make whiskey, or soak
fruits in it to make your own liqueurs.
12) What web resources are there ?
For more details, see :
Tony Ackland's http://www.geocities.com/kiwi_distiller
Aaron Smiths's http://www.go.to/distillation
Steve Spence's http://www.webconx.com/ethanol.htm
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via
Egroups, at http://www.egroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name
suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple,
straight-forward discussions, whereas the DISTILLERS group is a bit more
advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative
ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.
14) Can I run my car on it ?
You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. See Steve Spences
site for more details. In addition, in the USA, you can get a "small fuel
producer" permit, which allows small scale distilling for "motor fuel"
purposes. A nice advantage is that they don't require denaturing for "fuel"
used on the premises. The regulations are posted at http://www.webconx.com/ethanolusaregs.htm
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the
conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L
= 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 =
75.76 L

1 L = 0.264 US gal = 0.221 UK gal
1 L = 1.057 US qt = 0.880 UK qt
1 kg = 2.204 lbm = 32.15 oz (troy) = 35.27 oz (av)
deg F = ((9/5) x deg C )+ 32
1m = 1000 mm = 39.37 inch = 3.28 ft = 1.09 yd
16) What is a "Thumper" ?
A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be
as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the
still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the
bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or
tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then
the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a
second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts
the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a
very mediocre design.

janpam ooms

Can anyone tell me where to buy nutrients and the proper yeasts for distilling in Australia. Thank you. Jan. ...

Message 3 of 29
, Mar 28, 2001

Can anyone tell me where to buy nutrients and the proper yeasts for
distilling in Australia. Thank you. Jan.

>From: Tony & Elle Ackland <Tony.Ackland@...>
>Reply-To: new_distillers@yahoogroups.com
>To: 'New Distillers newsgroup' <new_distillers@yahoogroups.com>
>CC: 'Distillers newsgroup' <Distillers@yahoogroups.com>
>Subject: [new_distillers] New Distillers FAQ
>Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2001 12:26:41 +1300
>
>New Distillers FAQ
>******************************************************************
>"NEW DISTILLERS" Frequently Asked Questions (Sept'00)
>
>Posted near the 1st of each month, to the NEW_DISTILLERS newsgroup at
>www.egroups.com
>
>Please email any additions, corrections, clarifications required, etc
>regarding the FAQ to Tony Ackland (ackland@...), however please
>direct any general questions to the newsgroup itself.
>
>*******************************************************************
>
>1) Is distilling hard to do ?
>2) Is it legal ?
>3) Will it make me blind ?
>4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
>fractionating column ?
>5) How do I get or make a still ?
>6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
>7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
>8) Can I use fruit wine ?
>9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
>10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
>11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
>12) What web resources are there ?
>13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
>14) Can I run my car on it ?
>15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
>16) What is a "Thumper" ?
>
>**********************************************************************
>1) Is distilling hard to do ?
>Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can
>sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand
>what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your
>belt before you begin.
>2) Is it legal ?
>Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries
>turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment
>ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is
>usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more
>generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through
>excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential
>legal ramifications.
>3) Will it make me blind ?
>Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore,
>which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The
>concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve
>poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or
>fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it
>is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to
>throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the
>greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
>collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
>extinguisher nearby.
>4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
>fractionating column ?
>A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off
>the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity,
>with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot
>still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose
>a bit of its flavour.
>
>A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by
>having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and
>allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the
>packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase
>the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the
>purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will
>result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with
>flavours etc.
>
>A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense
>all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down
>the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and
>packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little
>space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+
>pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 95.6%), with no other
>tastes or impurities in it.
>5) How do I get or make a still ?
>If you're after a pot still, these are generally home made using what-ever
>you have at hand - say copper tubing and old water heaters or pressure
>cookers. Reflux stills can be made from plans on the net, or bought from
>several manufacturers. For reflux stil plans see Stillmakers :
>http://stillmaker.dreamhost.com/ (free!) or Gert Strands :
>http://partyman.se/Engelsk/default.htm (US$5), or for a fractionating
>column see Nixon & Stones : http://www.gin-vodka.com/ (US$8). See the list
>of "web resources" below for links to sites selling ready-made stills.
>
>Regarding the choice of heating for the still - if you have 240V available
>it is usually easiest to control & safer (particularly with internal
>elements). Gas can be used, but more care is needed to keep the collection
>container further away and not letting it overfill.
>6) How do I make a whisky / vodka / rum / gin ?
>Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65C,
>and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75C, then strain off and keep
>liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30C
>(should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast &
>leave to ferment (maintain at 26C) until airlock stops bubbling and final
>SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot
>still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or
>until you start noticing the tails coming through.
>
>Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60g of nutrients in 20L of water, cool to
>below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25C until below an SG
>of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or
>fractionating still, and collect as per usual.
>
>Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an
>initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.06 - 1.07. Run through either a
>pot still, or a not-so-great reflux still.
>
>Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35g of
>juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let
>cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this
>essence per bottle of vodka.
>
>When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used
>are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or
>else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with
>an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc
>in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing
>sites.
>7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
>It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make.
>If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest
>(usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow.
>If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need
>to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to
>make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.
>8) Can I use fruit wine ?
>Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a
>brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to
>neutral spirit.
>9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
>That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to
>impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel
>oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a
>reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one
>way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux
>occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of
>the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little
>bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a
>week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
>as "polishing" the spirit.
>10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
>You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The
>more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the
>hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much
>alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the
>density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is <
>1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.
>11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
>There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn vodka or
>neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all manor of
>liqueurs. See the commercial sites, like Des Zines
>http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms http://moonshine.co.nz/
>for details.Or you can soak it with oak chips and make whiskey, or soak
>fruits in it to make your own liqueurs.
>12) What web resources are there ?
>For more details, see :
>Tony Ackland's http://www.geocities.com/kiwi_distiller
>Aaron Smiths's http://www.go.to/distillation
>Steve Spence's http://www.webconx.com/ethanol.htm
>13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
>Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via
>Egroups, at http://www.egroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name
>suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple,
>straight-forward discussions, whereas the DISTILLERS group is a bit more
>advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative
>ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.
>14) Can I run my car on it ?
>You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. See Steve Spences
>site for more details. In addition, in the USA, you can get a "small fuel
>producer" permit, which allows small scale distilling for "motor fuel"
>purposes. A nice advantage is that they don't require denaturing for "fuel"
>used on the premises. The regulations are posted at
>http://www.webconx.com/ethanolusaregs.htm
>15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
>To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the
>conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L
>= 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 =
>75.76 L
>
>1 L = 0.264 US gal = 0.221 UK gal
>1 L = 1.057 US qt = 0.880 UK qt
>1 kg = 2.204 lbm = 32.15 oz (troy) = 35.27 oz (av)
>deg F = ((9/5) x deg C )+ 32
>1m = 1000 mm = 39.37 inch = 3.28 ft = 1.09 yd
>16) What is a "Thumper" ?
>A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be
>as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the
>still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the
>bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or
>tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then
>the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a
>second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts
>the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a
>very mediocre design.
>

Thanks Lynne,i will try them too,but i like to experiment with some different combinations of yeast and nutrients.I am also going to have a try on this mixture

Message 5 of 29
, Apr 2, 2001

Thanks Lynne,i will try them too,but i like to experiment with some
different combinations of yeast and nutrients.I am also going to have a try
on this mixture of bakers yeast and tomatoe paste to get this so called
good, triple distilled vodka Thanks again. jan

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
12) What web resources are there ?
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
14) Can I run my car on it ?
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
16) What is a "Thumper" ?

**********************************************************************
1) Is distilling hard to do ?
Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can
sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand
what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your
belt before you begin.
2) Is it legal ?
Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries
turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment
ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is
usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more
generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through
excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential
legal ramifications.
3) Will it make me blind ?
Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore,
which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The
concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve
poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or
fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it
is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to
throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the
greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
extinguisher nearby.
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off
the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity,
with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot
still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose
a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by
having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and
allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the
packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase
the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the
purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will
result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with
flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense
all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down
the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and
packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little
space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+
pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 95.6%), with no other
tastes or impurities in it.
5) How do I get or make a still ?
If you're after a pot still, these are generally home made using what-ever
you have at hand - say copper tubing and old water heaters or pressure
cookers. Reflux stills can be made from plans on the net, or bought from
several manufacturers. For reflux stil plans see Stillmakers : http://stillmaker.dreamhost.com/ (free!) or Gert Strands : http://partyman.se/Engelsk/default.htm (US$5). See the list of "web
resources" below for links to sites selling ready-made stills.

Regarding the choice of heating for the still - if you have 240V available
it is usually easiest to control & safer (particularly with internal
elements). Gas can be used, but more care is needed to keep the collection
container further away and not letting it overfill.
6) How do I make a whisky / vodka / rum / gin ?
Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65C,
and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75C, then strain off and keep
liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30C
(should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast &
leave to ferment (maintain at 26C) until airlock stops bubbling and final
SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot
still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or
until you start noticing the tails coming through.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60g of nutrients in 20L of water, cool to
below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25C until below an SG
of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or
fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an
initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.06 - 1.07. Run through either a
pot still, or a not-so-great reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35g of
juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let
cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this
essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used
are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or
else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with
an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc
in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing
sites.
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make.
If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest
(usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow.
If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need
to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to
make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a
brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to
neutral spirit.
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to
impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel
oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a
reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one
way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux
occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of
the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little
bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a
week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
as "polishing" the spirit.
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The
more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the
hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much
alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the
density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is <
1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn vodka or
neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all manor of
liqueurs. See the commercial sites, like Des Zines http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms http://moonshine.co.nz/
for details.Or you can soak it with oak chips and make whiskey, or soak
fruits in it to make your own liqueurs.
12) What web resources are there ?
For more details, see :
Tony Ackland's http://www.geocities.com/kiwi_distiller
Aaron Smiths's http://www.go.to/distillation
Steve Spence's http://www.webconx.com/ethanol.htm
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via
YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name
suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple,
straight-forward discussions, whereas the DISTILLERS group is a bit more
advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative
ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.
14) Can I run my car on it ?
You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. See Steve Spences
site for more details. In addition, in the USA, you can get a "small fuel
producer" permit, which allows small scale distilling for "motor fuel"
purposes. A nice advantage is that they don't require denaturing for "fuel"
used on the premises. The regulations are posted at http://www.webconx.com/ethanolusaregs.htm
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the
conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L
= 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 =
75.76 L

1 L = 0.264 US gal = 0.221 UK gal
1 L = 1.057 US qt = 0.880 UK qt
1 kg = 2.204 lbm = 32.15 oz (troy) = 35.27 oz (av)
deg F = ((9/5) x deg C )+ 32
1m = 1000 mm = 39.37 inch = 3.28 ft = 1.09 yd
16) What is a "Thumper" ?
A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be
as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the
still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the
bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or
tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then
the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a
second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts
the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a
very mediocre design.

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
12) What web resources are there ?
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
14) Can I run my car on it ?
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
16) What is a "Thumper" ?
17) Can I use a reflux still to make rum or whisky ?

Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can
sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand
what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your
belt before you begin.

2) Is it legal ?

Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries
turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment
ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is
usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more
generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through
excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential
legal ramifications.

3) Will it make me blind ?

Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore,
which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The
concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve
poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or
fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it
is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to
throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the
greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
extinguisher nearby.

A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off
the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity,
with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot
still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose
a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by
having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and
allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the
packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase
the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the
purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will
result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with
flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense
all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down
the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and
packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little
space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+
pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 96.48 %(by volume)),
with no other tastes or impurities in it.

Regarding the choice of heating for the still - if you have 240V available
it is usually easiest to control & safer (particularly with internal
elements). Gas can be used, but more care is needed to keep the collection
container further away and not letting it overfill.

6) How do I make a whisky / vodka / rum / gin ?

Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65C,
and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75C, then strain off and keep
liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30C
(should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast &
leave to ferment (maintain at 26C) until airlock stops bubbling and final
SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot
still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or
until you start noticing the tails coming through.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60g of nutrients in 20L of water, cool to
below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25C until below an SG
of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or
fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an
initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.06 - 1.07. Run through either a
pot still, or a not-so-great reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35g of
juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let
cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this
essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used
are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or
else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with
an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc
in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing
sites.

7) Should I use sugar or grains ?

It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make.
If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest
(usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow.
If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need
to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to
make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.

8) Can I use fruit wine ?

Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a
brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to
neutral spirit.

9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?

That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to
impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel
oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a
reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one
way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux
occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of
the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little
bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a
week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
as "polishing" the spirit. I'm also suspecting that you need a little bit
of copper somewhere in the still where it can come in contact with the
vapour. The copper helps catalyse some of the sulphur, esters & organic
acids, reducing their odour & taste.

10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?

You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The
more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the
hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much
alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the
density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is <
1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.

11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?

There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn vodka or
neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all manor of
liqueurs. See the commercial sites, like Des Zines http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms http://moonshine.co.nz/
for details. Or you can soak it with oak chips and make whiskey, or soak
fruits in it to make your own liqueurs.

Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via
YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name
suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple,
straight-forward discussions, whereas the DISTILLERS group is a bit more
advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative
ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.

14) Can I run my car on it ?

You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. Because any water
present will seperate out in the presence of the gasoline (and become a
problem), you either need to exclusively use the alcohol, or dry it right
out (eg 99%+ purity) if using it to mix with gasoline. See Steve Spences
site for more details, the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual, or the The
Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel. In addition, in
the USA, you can get a "small fuel producer" permit, which allows small
scale distilling for "motor fuel" purposes. A nice advantage is that they
don't require denaturing for "fuel" used on the premises. The regulations
are posted at http://www.webconx.com/ethanolusaregs.htm

A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be
as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the
still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the
bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or
tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then
the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a
second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts
the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a
very mediocre design.

17) Can I use a Reflux Still to make Rum or Whisky ?

Yes you can. To do so, you need to carefully monitor the various
transitions between the foreshots, heads, middle run, and tails, and time
the collection of the middle run precisely. The reflux still allows you to
more precisely judge the changes between the various stages, and hence
target them accurately. A typical rum or whisky would be obtained by
discarding the foreshots, then collecting the heads, middle run, and then
begin the tails, until the purity has dropped to around 58-60% (81.4C). By
altering when to start collecting, and how late to time the final "cut",
various flavour profiles will result.

Tony & Elle Ackland

NEW DISTILLERS Frequently Asked Questions (Sept 01) Posted near the 1st of each month, to the NEW_DISTILLERS newsgroup at www.yahoogroups.com Please email

Message 8 of 29
, Oct 1, 2001

"NEW DISTILLERS" Frequently Asked Questions (Sept'01)

Posted near the 1st of each month, to the NEW_DISTILLERS newsgroup at
www.yahoogroups.com

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
12) What web resources are there ?
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
14) Can I run my car on it ?
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
16) What is a "Thumper" ?
17) Can I use a reflux still to make rum or whisky ?

Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can
sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand
what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your
belt before you begin.

2) Is it legal ?

Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries
turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment
ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is
usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more
generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through
excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential
legal ramifications.

3) Will it make me blind ?

Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore,
which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The
concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve
poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or
fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it
is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to
throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the
greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
extinguisher nearby.

A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off
the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity,
with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot
still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose
a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by
having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and
allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the
packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase
the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the
purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will
result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with
flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense
all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down
the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and
packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little
space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+
pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 96.48 %(by volume)),
with no other tastes or impurities in it.

Regarding the choice of heating for the still - if you have 240V available
it is usually easiest to control & safer (particularly with internal
elements). Gas can be used, but more care is needed to keep the collection
container further away and not letting it overfill.

6) How do I make a whisky / vodka / rum / gin ?

Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65C,
and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75C, then strain off and keep
liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30C
(should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast &
leave to ferment (maintain at 26C) until airlock stops bubbling and final
SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot
still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or
until you start noticing the tails coming through.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60g of nutrients in 20L of water, cool to
below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25C until below an SG
of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or
fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an
initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.06 - 1.07. Run through either a
pot still, or a not-so-great reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35g of
juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let
cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this
essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used
are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or
else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with
an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc
in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing
sites.

7) Should I use sugar or grains ?

It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make.
If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest
(usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow.
If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need
to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to
make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.

8) Can I use fruit wine ?

Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a
brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will normally just strip it
down to neutral spirit.

9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?

That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to
impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel
oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a
reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one
way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux
occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of
the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little
bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a
week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
as "polishing" the spirit. I'm also suspecting that you need a little bit
of copper somewhere in the still where it can come in contact with the
vapour. The copper helps catalyse some of the sulphur, esters & organic
acids, reducing their odour & taste.

10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?

You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The
more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the
hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much
alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the
density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is <
1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.

11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?

There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn vodka or
neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all manor of
liqueurs. See the commercial sites, like Des Zines http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms http://moonshine.co.nz/
for details. Or you can soak it with oak chips and make whiskey, or soak
fruits in it to make your own liqueurs.

Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via
YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name
suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple,
straight-forward discussions, whereas the DISTILLERS group is a bit more
advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative
ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.

14) Can I run my car on it ?

You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. Because any water
present will seperate out in the presence of the gasoline (and become a
problem), you either need to exclusively use the alcohol, or dry it right
out (eg 99%+ purity) if using it to mix with gasoline. See Steve Spences
site for more details, the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual, or the The
Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel. In addition, in
the USA, you can get a "small fuel producer" permit, which allows small
scale distilling for "motor fuel" purposes. A nice advantage is that they
don't require denaturing for "fuel" used on the premises. The regulations
are posted at http://www.webconx.com/ethanolusaregs.htm

15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....

To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the
conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L
= 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 =
75.76 L

A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be
as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the
still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the
bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or
tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then
the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a
second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts
the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a
very mediocre design.

17) Can I use a Reflux Still to make Rum or Whisky ?

Yes you can. To do so, you need to carefully monitor the various
transitions between the foreshots, heads, middle run, and tails, and time
the collection of the middle run precisely. The reflux still allows you to
more precisely judge the changes between the various stages, and hence
target them accurately. A typical rum or whisky would be obtained by
discarding the foreshots, then collecting the heads, middle run, and then
begin the tails, until the purity has dropped to around 58-60% (81.4C). By
altering when to start collecting, and how late to time the final "cut",
various flavour profiles will result.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------

Ackland, Tony (CALNZAS)

NEW DISTILLERS Frequently Asked Questions (Sept 01) Posted near the 1st of each month, to the NEW_DISTILLERS newsgroup at www.yahoogroups.com Please email

Message 9 of 29
, Nov 18, 2001

"NEW DISTILLERS" Frequently Asked Questions (Sept'01)

Posted near the 1st of each month, to the NEW_DISTILLERS newsgroup at
www.yahoogroups.com

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and fractionating
column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
12) What web resources are there ?
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
14) Can I run my car on it ?
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
16) What is a "Thumper" ?
17) Can I use a reflux still to make rum or whisky ?

Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can
sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand
what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your
belt before you begin.

2) Is it legal ?

Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries
turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment ranging
from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is usually
the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more generally
due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through excise taxes.
So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential legal
ramifications.

3) Will it make me blind ?

Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore,
which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The
concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve
poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or
fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it
is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to
throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the
greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
extinguisher nearby.

A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off
the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity,
with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot
still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose a
bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by having
some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and allowing some
of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the packing. This
"reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase the % purity.
The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the purer the
product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will result in a
clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense
all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down
the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and
packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little space
(pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+ pure
(the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 96.48 %(by volume)), with
no other tastes or impurities in it.

Regarding the choice of heating for the still - if you have 240V available
it is usually easiest to control & safer (particularly with internal
elements). Gas can be used, but more care is needed to keep the collection
container further away and not letting it overfill.

6) How do I make a whisky / vodka / rum / gin ?

Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65C,
and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75C, then strain off and keep
liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30C
(should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast &
leave to ferment (maintain at 26C) until airlock stops bubbling and final SG
of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot
still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or
until you start noticing the tails coming through.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60g of nutrients in 20L of water, cool to
below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25C until below an SG
of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or
fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an
initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.06 - 1.07. Run through either a
pot still, or a not-so-great reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35g of
juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let
cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this
essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used
are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or
else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with an
airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc in.
For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing sites.

7) Should I use sugar or grains/fruit ?

It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make.
If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest
(usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow. If
you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need to
go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to make a
neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.

Basic guidelines for using them are ..
SUGAR. Wine yeast can use no more than 2.5lbs of sugar/1imp gal or
2.2lb/1U.S.gal or 1.25kg/5litres of must. This will produce 14%a.b.v. Honey
and liquid malt extract are 80% sugar so you need 1.5kg/5l must or mash.
Molasses is 50% sugar so you need 2.5kg/5l must or mash. Maple syrup is 32%
sugar. Carob beans are 45% sugar. Sugar beets are 15% sugar Grain malt is
60% sugar (starch converted to sugars) so you need 1.5kg/5l mash. Cooked
grain contains 60% convertible starch so you need 1.5kg/5l mash
FRUIT - Grapes contain the ideal sugar, water, acid balance. A sugar content
of 17-23% and a water content of about 80%. 8kg of grapes produces 5l of
wine. Most common fruits (apples, plums, apricots) contain about 10% sugar
and 85% water. Cherries and figs contain 15% sugar. A fruit mash could be
4kg fruit, (400g sugar content), 2l water (3l in pulp already), 800g
additional sugar. Bananas are 17-24% sugar, 75% water. Acid content 0.3%. A
banana mash could be 4kg of cooked bananas, 2l water (3l in pulp
already),400g sugar. Add 3lemons/5l for correct pH. Dates are 70% sugar, 20%
water. Add acid to a date mash. Raisins and sultanas have a water content of
about 15% and a sugar content of 60%, grapes have a water content of 75% and
a sugar content of about 20%, so using 1.5-2kg/5l of water appears about
right if we want to reconstitute them.
ACID - 5g of citric acid (1tsp)/5l must raises acidity by 0.1%. 3g of
calcium carbonate powder lowers acidity by 0.1%. A pH of 5 is 0.4% acidity.
Winemakers aim for 0.6% acidity. Most common fruits are about 0.6% acid
content. For distilling, a higher acidity in the mash helps to suppress
bacteria. A high tannin content doesn't matter as we are not making wine.
Meaurements are logarithmic, so a pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic than a pH
of 5.
YEAST - Brewers (& possibly baker's yeast) can tolerate only 8% alcohol. A
bottom fermenting lager yeast ferments out all the sugars better than a top
fermenting ale yeast. A good wine yeast (Champagne, in the right conditions,
can tolerate 15%a.b.v. (up to 18%a.b.v. in optimal conditions - no need to
use expensive turbos). Wild yeasts vary, but some are very low - this is a
risky path. Whisky distillers often use a combination of yeasts - initially
a brewer's yeast because they believe it effects the flavor.

8) Can I use fruit wine ?

Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a
brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to
neutral spirit.

9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?

That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to
impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel
oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a
reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one
way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux
occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of
the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little
bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a
week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
as "polishing" the spirit. I'm also suspecting that you need a little bit of
copper somewhere in the still where it can come in contact with the vapour.
The copper helps catalyse some of the sulphur, esters & organic acids,
reducing their odour & taste.

10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?

You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The more
alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the
hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much
alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the density
of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is < 1.0, and
they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.

11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?

There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn vodka or
neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all manor of liqueurs.
See the commercial sites, like Des Zineshttp://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms http://moonshine.co.nz/ for
details. Or you can soak it with oak chips and make whiskey, or soak fruits
in it to make your own liqueurs.

Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via
YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name
suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple,
straight-forward discussions, whereas the DISTILLERS group is a bit more
advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative
ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.

14) Can I run my car on it ?

You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. Because any water
present will seperate out in the presence of the gasoline (and become a
problem), you either need to exclusively use the alcohol, or dry it right
out (eg 99%+ purity) if using it to mix with gasoline. See Steve Spences
site for more details, the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual, or the The
Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel. In addition, in the
USA, you can get a "small fuel producer" permit, which allows small scale
distilling for "motor fuel" purposes. A nice advantage is that they don't
require denaturing for "fuel" used on the premises. The regulations are
posted at http://www.webconx.com/ethanolusaregs.htm

15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....

To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the
conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L
= 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 =
75.76 L

A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be
as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the
still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the bottom
of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or tails) so
that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then the vapour
coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a second
distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts the purity
from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a very
mediocre design.

17) Can I use a Reflux Still to make Rum or Whisky ?

Yes you can. To do so, you need to carefully monitor the various transitions
between the foreshots, heads, middle run, and tails, and time the collection
of the middle run precisely. The reflux still allows you to more precisely
judge the changes between the various stages, and hence target them
accurately. A typical rum or whisky would be obtained by discarding the
foreshots, then collecting the heads, middle run, and then begin the tails,
until the purity has dropped to around 58-60% (81.4C). By altering when to
start collecting, and how late to time the final "cut", various flavour
profiles will result.

AuntyEthyl

Well this has been asked about quite a bit of late so i ll put my 40 cents worth in. Firstly, this is not the *only* way, nor the easiest way, nor the best way

Message 10 of 29
, Nov 18, 2001

Well this has been asked about quite a bit of late so
i'll put my 40 cents worth in.

Firstly, this is not the *only* way, nor the easiest
way, nor the best way it's just my way and for me it
works well. But it has some advantages over other
designs.

This system, uses a tube that is essentially sealed,
so unlike other designs, you can fill and forget,
rather than watch for overflow or needing to top it up
all the time. It is also designed around a 25ltr wash,
so will process about 10 ltrs of 40% spirit in a
single pass in about 36hours.

Secondly I apologise for the drawings, when it comes
to Artistic, I'm all Autistic.

Note. The poly pipe barbed fitting is the barbed part
of the poly pipe adapter that screws to a tap and has
the barbed part to attach some poly pipe. See
polyfit.gif

After studying my ordinary drawings, drill a hole in
the centre of the end cap to suit the nozzle. This can
be glued into position with silicon, from the outside.
The end cap can then be glued onto the end of the main
pipe. The barbs on the poly pipe fitting need to be
filed down flush with the outside of the fitting, then
a suitable hole drilled into the centre of threaded
cap, and the poly pipe fitting glued into place. The
threaded adapter can be glued onto the other end of
the pipe.

With the main filter unit built, all you need is a
short piece of plastic tubing to fit over the barbed
poly pipe fitting, then other end fits over the end of
a standard drum tape (not the cobra/flip type tap)

To the caulking gun nozzle attach a short peice of
silicon tube. The other end is attached to the air
tap. A longer peice of silicon tube is used from the
tap, leading into the collection container.

When you are ready to use.
Cut two layers of coffee filter paper to fit inside of
the main pipe. Push these inside the main pipe until
they rest at the bottom against the end cap.
Fill your main pipe with activated carbon, to 50mm
from the top.
Pour the carbon into a glass bowl and pour boiling
water over carbon. Stir, leave sit for a couple of
minutes and pour off the water.
Repeat about five times until water above the carbon
is clear.
Rinse filter housing. And fold silicon tube and clamp
with a clothes peg. Fill tube with fairly warm to hot
water.
Pour off excess water from carbon and using a desert
spoon fill tube with the carbon. Once filled, screw on
threaded cap and top up water in filter. Push the
clear plastic tube over the tap of the drum which has
been filled with untreated spirit at 50% or less, the
drum has also been suspended from the garage roof
truss.
Turn on the drum tap and adjust the aquarium air tap
until the flow is quite fast, feel the filter pipe, as
the spirit flows thru the pipe will cool, letting you
know how far the spirit has flowed.
Let the spirit flow fast until about two thirds of the
water has been displaced. The water can be chucked,
adjust the air tap until the spirit is just flowing,
about 2 drips a second.

Relax and wait for some smooth tasting, non smelling
spirit.

This works very well for me.

Enjoy
AuntyEthyl

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personalshttp://personals.yahoo.com

Tony & Elle Ackland

****************************************************************** NEW DISTILLERS Frequently Asked Questions (Sept 01) Posted near the 1st of each month, to

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
12) What web resources are there ?
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
14) Can I run my car on it ?
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
16) What is a "Thumper" ?
17) Can I use a reflux still to make rum or whisky ?

Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can
sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand
what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your
belt before you begin.

2) Is it legal ?

Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries
turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment
ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is
usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more
generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through
excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential
legal ramifications.

3) Will it make me blind ?

Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore,
which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The
concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve
poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or
fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it
is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to
throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the
greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
extinguisher nearby.

A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off
the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity,
with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot
still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose
a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by
having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and
allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the
packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase
the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the
purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will
result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with
flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense
all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down
the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and
packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little
space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+
pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 96.48 %(by volume)),
with no other tastes or impurities in it.

Regarding the choice of heating for the still - if you have 240V available
it is usually easiest to control & safer (particularly with internal
elements). Gas can be used, but more care is needed to keep the collection
container further away and not letting it overfill.

6) How do I make a whisky / vodka / rum / gin ?

Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65C,
and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75C, then strain off and keep
liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30C
(should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast &
leave to ferment (maintain at 26C) until airlock stops bubbling and final
SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot
still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or
until you start noticing the tails coming through.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60g of nutrients in 20L of water, cool to
below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25C until below an SG
of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or
fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an
initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.06 - 1.07. Run through either a
pot still, or a not-so-great reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35g of
juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let
cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this
essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used
are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or
else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with
an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc
in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing
sites.

7) Should I use sugar or grains/fruit ?

It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make.
If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest
(usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow.
If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need
to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to
make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.

Basic guidelines for using them are ..
SUGAR. Wine yeast can use no more than 2.5lbs of sugar/1imp gal or
2.2lb/1U.S.gal or 1.25kg/5litres of must. This will produce 14%a.b.v. Honey
and liquid malt extract are 80% sugar so you need 1.5kg/5l must or mash.
Molasses is 50% sugar so you need 2.5kg/5l must or mash. Maple syrup is 32%
sugar. Carob beans are 45% sugar. Sugar beets are 15% sugar Grain malt is
60% sugar (starch converted to sugars) so you need 1.5kg/5l mash. Cooked
grain contains 60% convertible starch so you need 1.5kg/5l mash
FRUIT - Grapes contain the ideal sugar, water, acid balance. A sugar
content of 17-23% and a water content of about 80%. 8kg of grapes produces
5l of wine. Most common fruits (apples, plums, apricots) contain about 10%
sugar and 85% water. Cherries and figs contain 15% sugar. A fruit mash
could be 4kg fruit, (400g sugar content), 2l water (3l in pulp already),
800g additional sugar. Bananas are 17-24% sugar, 75% water. Acid content
0.3%. A banana mash could be 4kg of cooked bananas, 2l water (3l in pulp
already),400g sugar. Add 3lemons/5l for correct pH. Dates are 70% sugar,
20% water. Add acid to a date mash. Raisins and sultanas have a water
content of about 15% and a sugar content of 60%, grapes have a water
content of 75% and a sugar content of about 20%, so using 1.5-2kg/5l of
water appears about right if we want to reconstitute them.
ACID - 5g of citric acid (1tsp)/5l must raises acidity by 0.1%. 3g of
calcium carbonate powder lowers acidity by 0.1%. A pH of 5 is 0.4% acidity.
Winemakers aim for 0.6% acidity. Most common fruits are about 0.6% acid
content. For distilling, a higher acidity in the mash helps to suppress
bacteria. A high tannin content doesn't matter as we are not making wine.
Meaurements are logarithmic, so a pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic than a pH
of 5.
YEAST - Brewers (& possibly baker's yeast) can tolerate only 8% alcohol. A
bottom fermenting lager yeast ferments out all the sugars better than a top
fermenting ale yeast. A good wine yeast (Champagne, in the right
conditions, can tolerate 15%a.b.v. (up to 18%a.b.v. in optimal conditions -
no need to use expensive turbos). Wild yeasts vary, but some are very low -
this is a risky path. Whisky distillers often use a combination of yeasts -
initially a brewer's yeast because they believe it effects the flavor.

8) Can I use fruit wine ?

Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a
brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to
neutral spirit.

9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?

That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to
impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel
oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a
reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one
way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux
occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of
the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little
bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a
week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
as "polishing" the spirit. I'm also suspecting that you need a little bit
of copper somewhere in the still where it can come in contact with the
vapour. The copper helps catalyse some of the sulphur, esters & organic
acids, reducing their odour & taste.

10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?

You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The
more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the
hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much
alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the
density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is <
1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.

11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?

There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn vodka or
neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all manor of
liqueurs. See the commercial sites, like Des Zines http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms http://moonshine.co.nz/
for details. Or you can soak it with oak chips and make whiskey, or soak
fruits in it to make your own liqueurs.

Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via
YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name
suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple,
straight-forward discussions, whereas the DISTILLERS group is a bit more
advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative
ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.

14) Can I run my car on it ?

You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. Because any water
present will seperate out in the presence of the gasoline (and become a
problem), you either need to exclusively use the alcohol, or dry it right
out (eg 99%+ purity) if using it to mix with gasoline. See Steve Spences
site for more details, the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual, or the The
Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel. In addition, in
the USA, you can get a "small fuel producer" permit, which allows small
scale distilling for "motor fuel" purposes. A nice advantage is that they
don't require denaturing for "fuel" used on the premises. The regulations
are posted at http://www.webconx.com/ethanolusaregs.htm

15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....

To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the
conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L
= 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 =
75.76 L

A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be
as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the
still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the
bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or
tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then
the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a
second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts
the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a
very mediocre design.

17) Can I use a Reflux Still to make Rum or Whisky ?

Yes you can. To do so, you need to carefully monitor the various
transitions between the foreshots, heads, middle run, and tails, and time
the collection of the middle run precisely. The reflux still allows you to
more precisely judge the changes between the various stages, and hence
target them accurately. A typical rum or whisky would be obtained by
discarding the foreshots, then collecting the heads, middle run, and then
begin the tails, until the purity has dropped to around 58-60% (81.4C). By
altering when to start collecting, and how late to time the final "cut",
various flavour profiles will result.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
12) What web resources are there ?
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
14) Can I run my car on it ?
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
16) What is a "Thumper" ?
17) Can I use a reflux still to make rum or whisky ?

Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can
sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand
what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your
belt before you begin.

2) Is it legal ?

Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries
turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment
ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is
usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more
generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through
excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential
legal ramifications.

3) Will it make me blind ?

Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore,
which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The
concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve
poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or
fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it
is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to
throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the
greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
extinguisher nearby.

A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off
the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity,
with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot
still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose
a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by
having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and
allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the
packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase
the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the
purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will
result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with
flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense
all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down
the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and
packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little
space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+
pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 96.48 %(by volume)),
with no other tastes or impurities in it.

Regarding the choice of heating for the still - if you have 240V available
it is usually easiest to control & safer (particularly with internal
elements). Gas can be used, but more care is needed to keep the collection
container further away and not letting it overfill.

6) How do I make a whisky / vodka / rum / gin ?

Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65C,
and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75C, then strain off and keep
liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30C
(should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast &
leave to ferment (maintain at 26C) until airlock stops bubbling and final
SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot
still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or
until you start noticing the tails coming through.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60g of nutrients in 20L of water, cool to
below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25C until below an SG
of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or
fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an
initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.06 - 1.07. Run through either a
pot still, or a not-so-great reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35g of
juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let
cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this
essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used
are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or
else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with
an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc
in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing
sites.

7) Should I use sugar or grains/fruit ?

It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make.
If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest
(usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow.
If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need
to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to
make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.

Basic guidelines for using them are ..
SUGAR. Wine yeast can use no more than 2.5lbs of sugar/1imp gal or
2.2lb/1U.S.gal or 1.25kg/5litres of must. This will produce 14%a.b.v. Honey
and liquid malt extract are 80% sugar so you need 1.5kg/5l must or mash.
Molasses is 50% sugar so you need 2.5kg/5l must or mash. Maple syrup is 32%
sugar. Carob beans are 45% sugar. Sugar beets are 15% sugar Grain malt is
60% sugar (starch converted to sugars) so you need 1.5kg/5l mash. Cooked
grain contains 60% convertible starch so you need 1.5kg/5l mash
FRUIT - Grapes contain the ideal sugar, water, acid balance. A sugar
content of 17-23% and a water content of about 80%. 8kg of grapes produces
5l of wine. Most common fruits (apples, plums, apricots) contain about 10%
sugar and 85% water. Cherries and figs contain 15% sugar. A fruit mash
could be 4kg fruit, (400g sugar content), 2l water (3l in pulp already),
800g additional sugar. Bananas are 17-24% sugar, 75% water. Acid content
0.3%. A banana mash could be 4kg of cooked bananas, 2l water (3l in pulp
already),400g sugar. Add 3lemons/5l for correct pH. Dates are 70% sugar,
20% water. Add acid to a date mash. Raisins and sultanas have a water
content of about 15% and a sugar content of 60%, grapes have a water
content of 75% and a sugar content of about 20%, so using 1.5-2kg/5l of
water appears about right if we want to reconstitute them.
ACID - 5g of citric acid (1tsp)/5l must raises acidity by 0.1%. 3g of
calcium carbonate powder lowers acidity by 0.1%. A pH of 5 is 0.4% acidity.
Winemakers aim for 0.6% acidity. Most common fruits are about 0.6% acid
content. For distilling, a higher acidity in the mash helps to suppress
bacteria. A high tannin content doesn't matter as we are not making wine.
Meaurements are logarithmic, so a pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic than a pH
of 5.
YEAST - Brewers (& possibly baker's yeast) can tolerate only 8% alcohol. A
bottom fermenting lager yeast ferments out all the sugars better than a top
fermenting ale yeast. A good wine yeast (Champagne, in the right
conditions, can tolerate 15%a.b.v. (up to 18%a.b.v. in optimal conditions -
no need to use expensive turbos). Wild yeasts vary, but some are very low -
this is a risky path. Whisky distillers often use a combination of yeasts -
initially a brewer's yeast because they believe it effects the flavor.

8) Can I use fruit wine ?

Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a
brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to
neutral spirit.

9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?

That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to
impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel
oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a
reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one
way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux
occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of
the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little
bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a
week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
as "polishing" the spirit. I'm also suspecting that you need a little bit
of copper somewhere in the still where it can come in contact with the
vapour. The copper helps catalyse some of the sulphur, esters & organic
acids, reducing their odour & taste.

10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?

You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The
more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the
hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much
alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the
density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is <
1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.

11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?

There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn vodka or
neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all manor of
liqueurs. See the commercial sites, like Des Zines http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms http://moonshine.co.nz/
for details. Or you can soak it with oak chips and make whiskey, or soak
fruits in it to make your own liqueurs.

Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via
YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name
suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple,
straight-forward discussions, whereas the DISTILLERS group is a bit more
advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative
ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.

14) Can I run my car on it ?

You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. Because any water
present will seperate out in the presence of the gasoline (and become a
problem), you either need to exclusively use the alcohol, or dry it right
out (eg 99%+ purity) if using it to mix with gasoline. See Steve Spences
site for more details, the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual, or the The
Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel. In addition, in
the USA, you can get a "small fuel producer" permit, which allows small
scale distilling for "motor fuel" purposes. A nice advantage is that they
don't require denaturing for "fuel" used on the premises. The regulations
are posted at http://www.webconx.com/ethanolusaregs.htm

15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....

To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the
conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L
= 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 =
75.76 L

A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be
as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the
still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the
bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or
tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then
the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a
second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts
the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a
very mediocre design.

17) Can I use a Reflux Still to make Rum or Whisky ?

Yes you can. To do so, you need to carefully monitor the various
transitions between the foreshots, heads, middle run, and tails, and time
the collection of the middle run precisely. The reflux still allows you to
more precisely judge the changes between the various stages, and hence
target them accurately. A typical rum or whisky would be obtained by
discarding the foreshots, then collecting the heads, middle run, and then
begin the tails, until the purity has dropped to around 58-60% (81.4C). By
altering when to start collecting, and how late to time the final "cut",
various flavour profiles will result.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
12) What web resources are there ?
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
14) Can I run my car on it ?
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
16) What is a "Thumper" ?
17) Can I use a reflux still to make rum or whisky ?

Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can
sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand
what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your
belt before you begin.

2) Is it legal ?

Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries
turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment
ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is
usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more
generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through
excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential
legal ramifications.

3) Will it make me blind ?

Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore,
which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The
concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve
poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or
fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it
is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to
throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the
greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
extinguisher nearby.

A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off
the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity,
with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot
still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose
a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by
having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and
allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the
packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase
the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the
purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will
result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with
flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense
all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down
the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and
packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little
space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+
pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 96.48 %(by volume)),
with no other tastes or impurities in it.

Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65C,
and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75C, then strain off and keep
liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30C
(should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast &
leave to ferment (maintain at 26C) until airlock stops bubbling and final
SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot
still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or
until you start noticing the tails coming through.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60g of nutrients in 20L of water, cool to
below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25C until below an SG
of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or
fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an
initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.06 - 1.07. Run through either a
pot still, or a not-so-great reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35g of
juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let
cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this
essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used
are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or
else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with
an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc
in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing
sites.

7) Should I use sugar or grains/fruit ?

It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make.
If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest
(usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow.
If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need
to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to
make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.

Basic guidelines for using them are ..
SUGAR. Wine yeast can use no more than 2.5lbs of sugar/1imp gal or
2.2lb/1U.S.gal or 1.25kg/5litres of must. This will produce 14%a.b.v. Honey
and liquid malt extract are 80% sugar so you need 1.5kg/5l must or mash.
Molasses is 50% sugar so you need 2.5kg/5l must or mash. Maple syrup is 32%
sugar. Carob beans are 45% sugar. Sugar beets are 15% sugar Grain malt is
60% sugar (starch converted to sugars) so you need 1.5kg/5l mash. Cooked
grain contains 60% convertible starch so you need 1.5kg/5l mash
FRUIT - Grapes contain the ideal sugar, water, acid balance. A sugar
content of 17-23% and a water content of about 80%. 8kg of grapes produces
5l of wine. Most common fruits (apples, plums, apricots) contain about 10%
sugar and 85% water. Cherries and figs contain 15% sugar. A fruit mash
could be 4kg fruit, (400g sugar content), 2l water (3l in pulp already),
800g additional sugar. Bananas are 17-24% sugar, 75% water. Acid content
0.3%. A banana mash could be 4kg of cooked bananas, 2l water (3l in pulp
already),400g sugar. Add 3lemons/5l for correct pH. Dates are 70% sugar,
20% water. Add acid to a date mash. Raisins and sultanas have a water
content of about 15% and a sugar content of 60%, grapes have a water
content of 75% and a sugar content of about 20%, so using 1.5-2kg/5l of
water appears about right if we want to reconstitute them.
ACID - 5g of citric acid (1tsp)/5l must raises acidity by 0.1%. 3g of
calcium carbonate powder lowers acidity by 0.1%. A pH of 5 is 0.4% acidity.
Winemakers aim for 0.6% acidity. Most common fruits are about 0.6% acid
content. For distilling, a higher acidity in the mash helps to suppress
bacteria. A high tannin content doesn't matter as we are not making wine.
Meaurements are logarithmic, so a pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic than a pH
of 5.
YEAST - Brewers (& possibly baker's yeast) can tolerate only 8% alcohol. A
bottom fermenting lager yeast ferments out all the sugars better than a top
fermenting ale yeast. A good wine yeast (Champagne, in the right
conditions, can tolerate 15%a.b.v. (up to 18%a.b.v. in optimal conditions -
no need to use expensive turbos). Wild yeasts vary, but some are very low -
this is a risky path. Whisky distillers often use a combination of yeasts -
initially a brewer's yeast because they believe it effects the flavor.

8) Can I use fruit wine ?

Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a
brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to
neutral spirit.

9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?

That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to
impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel
oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a
reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one
way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux
occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of
the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little
bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a
week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
as "polishing" the spirit. I'm also suspecting that you need a little bit
of copper somewhere in the still where it can come in contact with the
vapour. The copper helps catalyse some of the sulphur, esters & organic
acids, reducing their odour & taste.

10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?

You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The
more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the
hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much
alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the
density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is <
1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.

11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?

There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn vodka or
neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all manor of
liqueurs. See the commercial sites, like Des Zines http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms http://moonshine.co.nz/
for details. Or you can soak it with oak chips and make whiskey, or soak
fruits in it to make your own liqueurs.

Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via
YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name
suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple,
straight-forward discussions, whereas the DISTILLERS group is a bit more
advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative
ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.

14) Can I run my car on it ?

You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. Because any water
present will seperate out in the presence of the gasoline (and become a
problem), you either need to exclusively use the alcohol, or dry it right
out (eg 99%+ purity) if using it to mix with gasoline. See Steve Spences
site for more details, the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual, or the The
Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel. In addition, in
the USA, you can get a "small fuel producer" permit, which allows small
scale distilling for "motor fuel" purposes. A nice advantage is that they
don't require denaturing for "fuel" used on the premises. The regulations
are posted at http://www.webconx.com/ethanolusaregs.htm

15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....

To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the
conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L
= 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 =
75.76 L

A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be
as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the
still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the
bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or
tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then
the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a
second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts
the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a
very mediocre design.

17) Can I use a Reflux Still to make Rum or Whisky ?

Yes you can. To do so, you need to carefully monitor the various
transitions between the foreshots, heads, middle run, and tails, and time
the collection of the middle run precisely. The reflux still allows you to
more precisely judge the changes between the various stages, and hence
target them accurately. A typical rum or whisky would be obtained by
discarding the foreshots, then collecting the heads, middle run, and then
begin the tails, until the purity has dropped to around 58-60% (81.4C). By
altering when to start collecting, and how late to time the final "cut",
various flavour profiles will result.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
12) What web resources are there ?
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
14) Can I run my car on it ?
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
16) What is a "Thumper" ?
17) Can I use a reflux still to make rum or whisky ?
18) Can methylated spirits be made safe to drink ?

Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can
sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand
what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your
belt before you begin.

2) Is it legal ?

Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries
turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment
ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is
usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more
generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through
excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential
legal ramifications.

3) Will it make me blind ?

Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore,
which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The
concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve
poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or
fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it
is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to
throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the
greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
extinguisher nearby.

A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off
the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity,
with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot
still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose
a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by
having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and
allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the
packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase
the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the
purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will
result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with
flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense
all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down
the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and
packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little
space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+
pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 96.48 %(by volume)),
with no other tastes or impurities in it.

Regarding the choice of heating for the still - if you have 240V available
it is usually easiest to control & safer (particularly with internal
elements). Gas can be used, but more care is needed to keep the collection
container further away and not letting it overfill.

6) How do I make a whisky / vodka / rum / gin ?

Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65C,
and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75C, then strain off and keep
liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30C
(should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast &
leave to ferment (maintain at 26C) until airlock stops bubbling and final
SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a
pot still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate
or until you start noticing the tails coming through.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60g of nutrients in 20L of water, cool to
below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25C until below an SG
of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or
fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an
initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.06 - 1.07. Run through either a
pot still, or a not-so-great reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35g of
juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let
cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this
essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used
are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or
else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with
an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc
in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing
sites.

7) Should I use sugar or grains/fruit ?

It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make.
If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest
(usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow.
If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need
to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to
make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.

Basic guidelines for using them are ..
SUGAR. Wine yeast can use no more than 2.5lbs of sugar/1imp gal or
2.2lb/1U.S.gal or 1.25kg/5litres of must. This will produce 14%a.b.v. Honey
and liquid malt extract are 80% sugar so you need 1.5kg/5l must or mash.
Molasses is 50% sugar so you need 2.5kg/5l must or mash. Maple syrup is 32%
sugar. Carob beans are 45% sugar. Sugar beets are 15% sugar Grain malt is
60% sugar (starch converted to sugars) so you need 1.5kg/5l mash. Cooked
grain contains 60% convertible starch so you need 1.5kg/5l mash
FRUIT - Grapes contain the ideal sugar, water, acid balance. A sugar
content of 17-23% and a water content of about 80%. 8kg of grapes produces
5l of wine. Most common fruits (apples, plums, apricots) contain about 10%
sugar and 85% water. Cherries and figs contain 15% sugar. A fruit mash
could be 4kg fruit, (400g sugar content), 2l water (3l in pulp already),
800g additional sugar. Bananas are 17-24% sugar, 75% water. Acid content
0.3%. A banana mash could be 4kg of cooked bananas, 2l water (3l in pulp
already),400g sugar. Add 3lemons/5l for correct pH. Dates are 70% sugar,
20% water. Add acid to a date mash. Raisins and sultanas have a water
content of about 15% and a sugar content of 60%, grapes have a water
content of 75% and a sugar content of about 20%, so using 1.5-2kg/5l of
water appears about right if we want to reconstitute them.
ACID - 5g of citric acid (1tsp)/5l must raises acidity by 0.1%. 3g of
calcium carbonate powder lowers acidity by 0.1%. A pH of 5 is 0.4% acidity.
Winemakers aim for 0.6% acidity. Most common fruits are about 0.6% acid
content. For distilling, a higher acidity in the mash helps to suppress
bacteria. A high tannin content doesn't matter as we are not making wine.
Meaurements are logarithmic, so a pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic than a pH
of 5.
YEAST - Brewers (& possibly baker's yeast) can tolerate only 8% alcohol. A
bottom fermenting lager yeast ferments out all the sugars better than a top
fermenting ale yeast. A good wine yeast (Champagne, in the right
conditions, can tolerate 15%a.b.v. (up to 18%a.b.v. in optimal conditions -
no need to use expensive turbos). Wild yeasts vary, but some are very low -
this is a risky path. Whisky distillers often use a combination of yeasts -
initially a brewer's yeast because they believe it effects the flavor.

8) Can I use fruit wine ?

Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a
brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to
neutral spirit.

9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?

That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to
impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel
oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a
reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one
way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux
occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of
the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little
bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a
week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
as "polishing" the spirit. I'm also suspecting that you need a little bit
of copper somewhere in the still where it can come in contact with the
vapour. The copper helps catalyse some of the sulphur, esters & organic
acids, reducing their odour & taste.

10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?

You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The
more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the
hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much
alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the
density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is <
1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.

11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?

There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn vodka or
neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all manor of
liqueurs. See the commercial sites, like Des Zines http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms http://moonshine.co.nz/
for details. Or you can soak it with oak chips and make whiskey, or soak
fruits in it to make your own liqueurs.

Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via
YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name
suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple,
straight-forward discussions, whereas the DISTILLERS group is a bit more
advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative
ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.

14) Can I run my car on it ?

You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. Because any water
present will seperate out in the presence of the gasoline (and become a
problem), you either need to exclusively use the alcohol, or dry it right
out (eg 99%+ purity) if using it to mix with gasoline. See Steve Spences
site for more details, the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual, or the The
Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel. In addition, in
the USA, you can get a "small fuel producer" permit, which allows small
scale distilling for "motor fuel" purposes. A nice advantage is that they
don't require denaturing for "fuel" used on the premises. The regulations
are posted at http://www.webconx.com/ethanolusaregs.htm

15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....

To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the
conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L
= 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 =
75.76 L

A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be
as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the
still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the
bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or
tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then
the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a
second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts
the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a
very mediocre design.

17) Can I use a Reflux Still to make Rum or Whisky ?

Yes you can. To do so, you need to carefully monitor the various
transitions between the foreshots, heads, middle run, and tails, and time
the collection of the middle run precisely. The reflux still allows you to
more precisely judge the changes between the various stages, and hence
target them accurately. A typical rum or whisky would be obtained by
discarding the foreshots, then collecting the heads, middle run, and then
begin the tails, until the purity has dropped to around 58-60% (81.4C). By
altering when to start collecting, and how late to time the final "cut",
various flavour profiles will result.

18) Can Methylated Spirits be made safe to Drink ?

No. Methylated spirits (aka meths) is a mixture of ethanol and (poisonous)
methanol, with a denturant added to make it foul tasting. There is no
effective way of seperating them, be it by distilling, using carbon, or
filtering through bread (old wives tale). Do not add meths to anything you
ever intend to distill or drink, and don't try using it in any form - it
will still be poisonous. Keep it for cleaning and starting the BBQ with.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------

Tony & Elle Ackland wrote: NEW DISTILLERS Frequently Asked Questions (June 02) Posted near the 1st of each month, to the NEW_DISTILLERS newsgroup at

Message 17 of 29
, Aug 22 8:57 AM

Tony & Elle Ackland wrote:

"NEW DISTILLERS" Frequently Asked Questions (June'02)

Posted near the 1st of each month, to the NEW_DISTILLERS newsgroup at www.yahoogroups.com

BRAVO !! I have been a member of this group only about a month and a half, and have read all the new postings and alot of the old postings. I think this Post has to be about the best! As I am completely new to all of this and this post has answered alot of the thoughts that I have had.

As a complete beginer in the art of distillation I can honestly say that this post is guite informative for the individual that wants to learn.

Thanks for all the information on the art,and for the wealth of knowledge that you all share.

Harley

The information in this E-mail message is legally privileged and confidential information intended only for the use of the individual(s) named above. If you, the reader of this message, are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you should not further disseminate, distribute, or forward this E-mail message. If you have received this E-mail in error, please notify the sender. Thank you

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
12) What web resources are there ?
13) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
14) Can I run my car on it ?
15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
16) What is a "Thumper" ?
17) Can I use a reflux still to make rum or whisky ?
18) Can methylated spirits be made safe to drink ?

Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can
sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand
what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your
belt before you begin.

2) Is it legal ?

Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries
turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment
ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is
usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more
generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through
excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential
legal ramifications.

3) Will it make me blind ?

Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore,
which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The
concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve
poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or
fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it
is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to
throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the
greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
extinguisher nearby.

A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off
the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity,
with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot
still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose
a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by
having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and
allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the
packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase
the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the
purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will
result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with
flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense
all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down
the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and
packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little
space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+
pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 96.48 %(by volume)),
with no other tastes or impurities in it.

Regarding the choice of heating for the still - if you have 240V available
it is usually easiest to control & safer (particularly with internal
elements). Gas can be used, but more care is needed to keep the collection
container further away and not letting it overfill.

6) How do I make a whisky / vodka / rum / gin ?

Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65C,
and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75C, then strain off and keep
liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30C
(should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast &
leave to ferment (maintain at 26C) until airlock stops bubbling and final
SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot
still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or
until you start noticing the tails coming through.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60g of nutrients in 20L of water, cool to
below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25C until below an SG
of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or
fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an
initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.06 - 1.07. Run through either a
pot still, or a not-so-great reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35g of
juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let
cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this
essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used
are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or
else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with
an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc
in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing
sites.

7) Should I use sugar or grains/fruit ?

It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make.
If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest
(usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow.
If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need
to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to
make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.

Basic guidelines for using them are ..

SUGAR. Wine yeast can use no more than 2.5lbs of sugar/1imp gal or
2.2lb/1U.S.gal or 1.25kg/5litres of must. This will produce 14%a.b.v. Honey
and liquid malt extract are 80% sugar so you need 1.5kg/5l must or mash.
Molasses is 50% sugar so you need 2.5kg/5l must or mash. Maple syrup is 32%
sugar. Carob beans are 45% sugar. Sugar beets are 15% sugar Grain malt is
60% sugar (starch converted to sugars) so you need 1.5kg/5l mash. Cooked
grain contains 60% convertible starch so you need 1.5kg/5l mash

FRUIT - Grapes contain the ideal sugar, water, acid balance. A sugar
content of 17-23% and a water content of about 80%. 8kg of grapes produces
5l of wine. Most common fruits (apples, plums, apricots) contain about 10%
sugar and 85% water. Cherries and figs contain 15% sugar. A fruit mash
could be 4kg fruit, (400g sugar content), 2l water (3l in pulp already),
800g additional sugar. Bananas are 17-24% sugar, 75% water. Acid content
0.3%. A banana mash could be 4kg of cooked bananas, 2l water (3l in pulp
already),400g sugar. Add 3lemons/5l for correct pH. Dates are 70% sugar,
20% water. Add acid to a date mash. Raisins and sultanas have a water
content of about 15% and a sugar content of 60%, grapes have a water
content of 75% and a sugar content of about 20%, so using 1.5-2kg/5l of
water appears about right if we want to reconstitute them.

ACID - 5g of citric acid (1tsp)/5l must raises acidity by 0.1%. 3g of
calcium carbonate powder lowers acidity by 0.1%. A pH of 5 is 0.4% acidity.
Winemakers aim for 0.6% acidity. Most common fruits are about 0.6% acid
content. For distilling, a higher acidity in the mash helps to suppress
bacteria. A high tannin content doesn't matter as we are not making wine.
Meaurements are logarithmic, so a pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic than a pH
of 5.

YEAST - Brewers (& possibly baker's yeast) can tolerate only 8% alcohol. A
bottom fermenting lager yeast ferments out all the sugars better than a top
fermenting ale yeast. A good wine yeast (Champagne, in the right
conditions, can tolerate 15%a.b.v. (up to 18%a.b.v. in optimal conditions -
no need to use expensive turbos). Wild yeasts vary, but some are very low -
this is a risky path. Whisky distillers often use a combination of yeasts -
initially a brewer's yeast because they believe it effects the flavor.

8) Can I use fruit wine ?

Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a
brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to
neutral spirit.

9) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?

That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to
impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel
oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a
reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one
way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux
occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of
the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little
bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a
week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
as "polishing" the spirit. I'm also suspecting that you need a little bit
of copper somewhere in the still where it can come in contact with the
vapour. The copper helps catalyse some of the sulphur, esters & organic
acids, reducing their odour & taste.

10) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?

You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The
more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the
hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much
alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the
density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is <
1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.

11) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?

There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn vodka or
neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all manor of
liqueurs. See the commercial sites, like Des Zines http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms http://moonshine.co.nz/
for details. Or you can soak it with oak chips and make whiskey, or soak
fruits in it to make your own liqueurs.

Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via
YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name
suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple,
straight-forward discussions, whereas the DISTILLERS group is a bit more
advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative
ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.

14) Can I run my car on it ?

You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. Because any water
present will seperate out in the presence of the gasoline (and become a
problem), you either need to exclusively use the alcohol, or dry it right
out (eg 99%+ purity) if using it to mix with gasoline. See Steve Spences
site for more details, the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual, or the The
Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel. In addition, in
the USA, you can get a "small fuel producer" permit, which allows small
scale distilling for "motor fuel" purposes. A nice advantage is that they
don't require denaturing for "fuel" used on the premises. The regulations
are posted at http://www.webconx.com/ethanolusaregs.htm

15) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....

To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the
conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L
= 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 =
75.76 L

A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be
as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the
still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the
bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or
tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then
the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a
second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts
the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a
very mediocre design.

17) Can I use a Reflux Still to make Rum or Whisky ?

Yes you can. To do so, you need to carefully monitor the various
transitions between the foreshots, heads, middle run, and tails, and time
the collection of the middle run precisely. The reflux still allows you to
more precisely judge the changes between the various stages, and hence
target them accurately. A typical rum or whisky would be obtained by
discarding the foreshots, then collecting the heads, middle run, and then
begin the tails, until the purity has dropped to around 58-60% (81.4C). By
altering when to start collecting, and how late to time the final "cut",
various flavour profiles will result.

18) Can Methylated Spirits be made safe to Drink ?

No. Methylated spirits (aka meths) is a mixture of ethanol and (poisonous)
methanol, with a denturant added to make it foul tasting. There is no
effective way of seperating them, be it by distilling, using carbon, or
filtering through bread (old wives tale). Do not add meths to anything you
ever intend to distill or drink, and don't try using it in any form - it
will still be poisonous. Keep it for cleaning and starting the BBQ with.

BOKAKOB

Hey, Tony your site is G*R*E*A*T!!! Whant I noticed in this group there are many questions like this: - how to run pot still and its cut-off poitnts? - how to

Message 21 of 29
, Nov 14, 2002

Hey, Tony your site is G*R*E*A*T!!! Whant I noticed in this group there are many questions like this:

- how to run pot still and its cut-off poitnts?- how to run a reflux and compound stills?- how to make a sugar wash?

I thiught a very basic bible-like rigid directives would help to faithfuls...This way this list becomes a compressed essence of your site!

Tony & Elle Ackland <Tony.Ackland@...> wrote:

Hmmm.... I've been a bit slack about getting this out on a regular basis.Any suggestions for additions/changes etc ?

NEW DISTILLERS Frequently Asked Questions (Feb 03) Posted near the 1st of each month, to the NEW_DISTILLERS newsgroup at www.yahoogroups.com Please email any

Message 22 of 29
, Feb 14, 2003

"NEW DISTILLERS" Frequently Asked Questions (Feb'03)
Posted near the 1st of each month, to the NEW_DISTILLERS newsgroup at
www.yahoogroups.com
Please email any additions, corrections, clarifications required, etc
regarding the FAQ to Tony Ackland (ackland@...), however please
direct any general questions to the newsgroup itself.
*******************************************************************
1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I make a Turbo-all-sugar wash ?
10) How do I run a Pot still ?
11) How do I run a Reflux still ?
12) Can I use a reflux still to make rum or whisky ?
13) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
14) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
15) Why do my spirits turn cloudy when diluted ?
16) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
17) What web resources are there ?
18) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
19) Can I run my car on it ?
20) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
21) What is a "Thumper" ?
22) Can methylated spirits be made safe to drink ?
**********************************************************************
1) Is distilling hard to do ?
Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can
sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand
what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your
belt before you begin.
2) Is it legal ?
Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries
turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment
ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is
usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more
generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through
excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential
legal ramifications.
3) Will it make me blind ?
Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore,
which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The
concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve
poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or
fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it
is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to
throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the
greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
extinguisher nearby.
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off
the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity,
with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot
still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose
a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by
having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and
allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the
packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase
the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the
purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will
result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with
flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense
all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down
the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and
packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little
space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+
pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 96.48 %(by volume)),
with no other tastes or impurities in it.
5) How do I get or make a still ?
If you're after a pot still, these are generally home made using what-ever
you have at hand - say copper tubing and old water heaters or pressure
cookers. You don't really need any plans for these - just follow any of the
photos about.
Reflux stills can be made from plans on the net, or bought from several
manufacturers. For reflux still plans see
The photos section at http://homedistiller.org/photos-ns.htm for "Offset
head" designs, and http://homedistiller.org/photos-reflux.htm for general
reflux stills.
Alex's designs at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Distillers/files/OFTS/
StillCookers http://us.geocities.com/stillcooker/
Stillmakers "Build a World Class Distillation Apparatus" at http://www.Moonshine-Still.com (Free!) or
Gert Strands : http://partyman.se/Engelsk/default.htm (US$5).
Ian Smileys "Making Pure Corn Whisky" at http://www.home-distilling.com ,
with full design details.
For an excellent book on all aspects of still design, see "The Compleat
Distiller" at http://www.amphora-society.com
See the list of "web resources" below for links to sites selling ready-made
stills.
For fuel alcohol stills see the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual at http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/meToC.html,
and the The Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel by S.W.
Mathewson at http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_manual/manual_ToC.html
Regarding the choice of heating for the still - if you have 240V available
it is usually easiest to control & safer (particularly with internal
elements). Gas can be used, but more care is needed to keep the collection
container further away and not letting it overfill.
6) How do I make a whisky / vodka / rum / gin ?
Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65 ?C,
and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75 ?C, then strain off and keep
liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30 ?C
(should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast &
leave to ferment (maintain at 26 ?C) until airlock stops bubbling and final
SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot
still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or
until you start noticing the tails coming through.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60 g of nutrients in 20 L of water, cool
to below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25 ?C until below
an SG of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or
fractionating still, and collect as per usual.
Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an
initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.060 - 1.070. Run through either a
pot still, or a de-refluxed reflux still.
Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35 g
of juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on,
let cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this
essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used
are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or
else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with
an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc
in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing
sites.
7) Should I use sugar or grains/fruit ?
It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make.
If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest
(usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow.
If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need
to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to
make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.
Basic guidelines for using them are ..
SUGAR. Wine yeast can use no more than 2.5lbs of sugar/1imp gal or
2.2lb/1U.S.gal or 1.25kg/5litres of must. This will produce 14%a.b.v. Honey
and liquid malt extract are 80% sugar so you need 1.5kg/5l must or mash.
Molasses is 50% sugar so you need 2.5kg/5l must or mash. Maple syrup is 32%
sugar. Carob beans are 45% sugar. Sugar beets are 15% sugar Grain malt is
60% sugar (starch converted to sugars) so you need 1.5kg/5l mash. Cooked
grain contains 60% convertible starch so you need 1.5kg/5l mash
FRUIT - Grapes contain the ideal sugar, water, acid balance. A sugar
content of 17-23% and a water content of about 80%. 8kg of grapes produces
5l of wine.
Most common fruits (apples, plums, apricots) contain about 10% sugar and
85% water. Cherries and figs contain 15% sugar. A fruit mash could be 4kg
fruit, (400g sugar content), 2l water (3l in pulp already), 800g additional
sugar.
Bananas are 17-24% sugar, 75% water. Acid content 0.3%. A banana mash could
be 4kg of cooked bananas, 2l water (3l in pulp already),400g sugar. Add
3lemons/5l for correct pH.
Dates are 70% sugar, 20% water. Add acid to a date mash.
Raisins and sultanas have a water content of about 15% and a sugar content
of 60%, grapes have a water content of 75% and a sugar content of about
20%, so using 1.5-2kg/5l of water appears about right if we want to
reconstitute them.
ACID - 5g of citric acid (1tsp)/5l must raises acidity by 0.1%. 3g of
calcium carbonate powder lowers acidity by 0.1%. A pH of 5 is 0.4% acidity.
Winemakers aim for 0.6% acidity. Most common fruits are about 0.6% acid
content. For distilling, a higher acidity in the mash helps to suppress
bacteria. A high tannin content doesn't matter as we are not making wine.
Meaurements are logarithmic, so a pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic than a pH
of 5.
YEAST - Brewers (& possibly baker's yeast) can tolerate only 8% alcohol. A
bottom fermenting lager yeast ferments out all the sugars better than a top
fermenting ale yeast. A good wine yeast (Champagne, in the right
conditions, can tolerate 15%a.b.v. (up to 18%a.b.v. in optimal conditions -
no need to use expensive turbos). Wild yeasts vary, but some are very low -
this is a risky path. Whisky distillers often use a combination of yeasts -
initially a brewer's yeast because they believe it effects the flavor.
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a
brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to
neutral spirit.
9) How do I make a Turbo-all-sugar wash ?
The first trick is to locate the "Turbo" yeasts - either try the New
Zealand sites, or www.brewhaus.com. Then, dissolve 5-6 kg of sugar with 2-3
L of boiling water, top up to 25 L with cold water, wait until its cooled
below 24 ?C, and then stir the yeast in, and close the lid with an airlock.
Keep at 24 ?C until the SG has dropped below 1.010 Its then possible to add
extra sugar (1 kg at a time, dissolved in a little water) each time the SG
has dropped below 1.010. You should be able to add an extra 3-4 kg this way
over a week. It should finish around 0.980 - 0.990
10) How do I run a Pot Still ?
See http://homedistiller.org/dtw.htm#use_pot for details. A pot still is
fairly straight forward to use. Turn it on. Once the temperature is up to
about 60 ?C turn on the cooling water to the condensor. Make sure you throw
away the first 1 00 mL per 20L wash, as this will contain any methanol that
might be present. Segregate the distillate into 500 mL lots as it comes
off. Only keep (for drinking) that which doesn't contain fusels (smell off)
- probably below about 92 ? C, however you should keep distilling past
here, untill about 96 ? C, as this fraction, although high in tails and not
good for drinking this time, can be added back to the next wash and cleaned
up OK then.
11) How do I run a Reflux / Fractionating Still ?
See http://homedistiller.org/dtw.htm#use_reflux for details +/or
variations. It is best to first equilibriate the column under total reflux
for 10 minutes or so. This will concentrate up the foreshots so that they
can be removed first. Collect them one drip at a time, for approx 50 mL per
25L wash, and throw away. You can then collect the remaining run at a
quicker rate. Adjust the reflux ratio (the ratio of how much of the total
vapour is returned as reflux) by varying either the rate of collection or
rate of cooling water (depending on still design) to maintain the purity
you want. You can judge the purity by measuring the vapour temperature.
Target around 78.2 - 78.4 ?C . Towards the end of the run it will be hard
to get a high enough reflux ratio to maintain the high purity / low
temperature. When the temperature has nudged up to around 80 ?C quit
collecting for drinking, and collect the remainder as tails (for
redistillation in the next run) up to around 96 ?C .
12) Can I use a Reflux Still to make Rum or Whisky ?
Yes you can. To do so, you need to carefully monitor the various
transitions between the foreshots, heads, middle run, and tails, and time
the collection of the middle run precisely. The reflux still allows you to
more precisely judge the changes between the various stages, and hence
target them accurately. A typical rum or whisky would be obtained by
discarding the foreshots, then collecting the heads, middle run, and then
begin the tails, until the purity has dropped to around 58-60% (82 ?C). By
altering when to start collecting, and how late to time the final "cut",
various flavour profiles will result. You'd collect it faster and at a
slightly lower reflux ratio than for a neutral spirit, as you want the
flavour present.
13) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The
more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the
hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much
alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the
density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is <
1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.
14) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to
impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel
oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a
reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one
way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux
occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of
the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little
bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a
week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
as "polishing" the spirit. I'm also suspecting that you need a little bit
of copper somewhere in the still where it can come in contact with the
vapour. The copper helps catalyse some of the sulphur, esters & organic
acids, reducing their odour & taste.
15) Why do my spirits turn cloudy when diluted ?
With neutral spirits, either you have pushed 'tails' into your product (eg
collected too much product from the still - quit earlier next time), or you
are using poor tap-water (high in calcium carbonate). If it happens when
diluting your gin, sambuca or the like, its because there is too little
alcohol/too much oil present and the oils are no longer dissolved. Either
drink it cloudy or increase the % alcohol present.
16) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn vodka or
neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all manor of
liqueurs. See the commercial sites, like Des Zines http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms http://moonshine.co.nz/
for details. Or you can soak it with oak chips and make whiskey, or soak
fruits in it to make your own liqueurs. There are many websites describing
how to make liqueurs - see http://homedistiller.org/liqueurs.htm or http://www.guntheranderson.com for a starting point.
17) What web resources are there ?
For more details, see :
Tony Ackland's http://homedistiller.org
Aaron Smiths's http://www.go.to/distillation
Steve Spence's http://www.webconx.com/ethanol.htm
StillMaker's http://www.Moonshine-Still.com
Biofuels Library http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library.html
18) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via
YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name
suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple,
straight-forward answers to questions, whereas the DISTILLERS group
discussions are a bit more advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy,
theory, and alternative ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap
to some extent.
19) Can I run my car on it ?
You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. Because any water
present will seperate out in the presence of the gasoline (and become a
problem), you either need to exclusively use the alcohol, or dry it right
out (eg 99%+ purity) if using it to mix with gasoline. See Steve Spences
site for more details, the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual, or the The
Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel. In addition, in
the USA, you can get a "small fuel producer" permit, which allows small
scale distilling for "motor fuel" purposes. A nice advantage is that they
don't require denaturing for "fuel" used on the premises. The regulations
are posted at http://www.webconx.com/ethanolusaregs.htm
20) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the
conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L
= 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 =
75.76 L

1 L = 0.264 US gal = 0.221 UK gal
1 L = 1.057 US qt = 0.880 UK qt
1 kg = 2.204 lbm = 32.15 oz (troy) = 35.27 oz (av)
deg F = ((9/5) x deg C )+ 32
1m = 1000 mm = 39.37 inch = 3.28 ft = 1.09 yd
21) What is a "Thumper" ?
A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be
as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the
still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the
bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or
tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then
the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a
second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts
the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a
very mediocre design. Don't make the thumper too small, and start it off
with liquid already high in alcohol.
22) Can Methylated Spirits be made safe to Drink ?
No. Methylated spirits (aka meths) is a mixture of ethanol and (poisonous)
methanol, with a denturant added to make it foul tasting. There is no
effective way of seperating them, be it by distilling, using carbon, or
filtering through bread (old wives tale). Do not add meths to anything you
ever intend to distill or drink, and don't try using it in any form - it
will still be poisonous. Keep it for cleaning and starting the BBQ with.

Ackland, Tony (CALNZAS)

NEW DISTILLERS Frequently Asked Questions (Feb 03) Posted near the 1st of each month, to the NEW_DISTILLERS newsgroup at www.yahoogroups.com Please email any

Message 23 of 29
, May 20, 2003

"NEW DISTILLERS" Frequently Asked Questions (Feb'03)

Posted near the 1st of each month, to the NEW_DISTILLERS newsgroup at www.yahoogroups.com

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I make a Turbo-all-sugar wash ?
10) How do I run a Pot still ?
11) How do I run a Reflux still ?
12) Can I use a reflux still to make rum or whisky ?
13) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
14) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
15) Why do my spirits turn cloudy when diluted ?
16) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
17) What web resources are there ?
18) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
19) Can I run my car on it ?
20) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
21) What is a "Thumper" ?
22) Can methylated spirits be made safe to drink ?

Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your belt before you begin.

2) Is it legal ?

Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential legal ramifications.

3) Will it make me blind ?

Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore, which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it is easily segregated and discarded. A simple rule of thumb for this is to throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire - collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire extinguisher nearby.

A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity, with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+ pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 96.48 %(by volume)), with no other tastes or impurities in it.

5) How do I get or make a still ?

If you're after a pot still, these are generally home made using what-ever you have at hand - say copper tubing and old water heaters or pressure cookers. You don't really need any plans for these - just follow any of the photos about.

Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65 °C, and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75 °C, then strain off and keep liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30 °C (should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast & leave to ferment (maintain at 26 °C) until airlock stops bubbling and final SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or until you start noticing the tails coming through. Many people also have sucess starting with a beer-kit instead of using grains.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60 g of nutrients in 20 L of water, cool to below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25 °C until below an SG of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.060 - 1.070. Run through either a pot still, or a de-refluxed reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35 g of juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing sites.

7) Should I use sugar or grains/fruit ?

It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make. If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest (usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow. If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.

Basic guidelines for using them are ..

SUGAR. Wine yeast can use no more than 2.5lbs of sugar/1imp gal or 2.2lb/1U.S.gal or 1.25kg/5litres of must. This will produce 14%a.b.v. Honey and liquid malt extract are 80% sugar so you need 1.5kg/5l must or mash. Molasses is 50% sugar so you need 2.5kg/5l must or mash. Maple syrup is 32% sugar. Carob beans are 45% sugar. Sugar beets are 15% sugar Grain malt is 60% sugar (starch converted to sugars) so you need 1.5kg/5l mash. Cooked grain contains 60% convertible starch so you need 1.5kg/5l mash

FRUIT - Grapes contain the ideal sugar, water, acid balance. A sugar content of 17-23% and a water content of about 80%. 8kg of grapes produces 5l of wine.
Most common fruits (apples, plums, apricots) contain about 10% sugar and 85% water. Cherries and figs contain 15% sugar. A fruit mash could be 4kg fruit, (400g sugar content), 2l water (3l in pulp already), 800g additional sugar.
Bananas are 17-24% sugar, 75% water. Acid content 0.3%. A banana mash could be 4kg of cooked bananas, 2l water (3l in pulp already),400g sugar. Add 3lemons/5l for correct pH.
Dates are 70% sugar, 20% water. Add acid to a date mash.
Raisins and sultanas have a water content of about 15% and a sugar content of 60%, grapes have a water content of 75% and a sugar content of about 20%, so using 1.5-2kg/5l of water appears about right if we want to reconstitute them.

ACID - 5g of citric acid (1tsp)/5l must raises acidity by 0.1%. 3g of calcium carbonate powder lowers acidity by 0.1%. A pH of 5 is 0.4% acidity. Winemakers aim for 0.6% acidity. Most common fruits are about 0.6% acid content. For distilling, a higher acidity in the mash helps to suppress bacteria. A high tannin content doesn't matter as we are not making wine. Meaurements are logarithmic, so a pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic than a pH of 5.

YEAST - Brewers (& possibly baker's yeast) can tolerate only 8% alcohol. A bottom fermenting lager yeast ferments out all the sugars better than a top fermenting ale yeast. A good wine yeast (Champagne, in the right conditions, can tolerate 15%a.b.v. (up to 18%a.b.v. in optimal conditions - no need to use expensive turbos). Wild yeasts vary, but some are very low - this is a risky path. Whisky distillers often use a combination of yeasts - initially a brewer's yeast because they believe it effects the flavor.

8) Can I use fruit wine ?

Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to neutral spirit.

9) How do I make a Turbo-all-sugar wash ?

The first trick is to locate the "Turbo" yeasts - either try the New Zealand sites, or www.brewhaus.com. Then, dissolve 5-6 kg of sugar with 2-3 L of boiling water, top up to 25 L with cold water, wait until its cooled below 24 °C, and then stir the yeast in, and close the lid with an airlock. Keep at 24 °C until the SG has dropped below 1.010 Its then possible to add extra sugar (1 kg at a time, dissolved in a little water) each time the SG has dropped below 1.010. You should be able to add an extra 3-4 kg this way over a week. It should finish around 0.980 - 0.990

10) How do I run a Pot Still ?

See http://homedistiller.org/dtw.htm#use_pot for details. A pot still is fairly straight forward to use. Turn it on. Once the temperature is up to about 60 °C turn on the cooling water to the condensor. Make sure you throw away the first 1 00 mL per 20L wash, as this will contain any methanol that might be present. Segregate the distillate into 500 mL lots as it comes off. Only keep (for drinking) that which doesn't contain fusels (smell off) - probably below about 92 ° C, however you should keep distilling past here, untill about 96 ° C, as this fraction, although high in tails and not good for drinking this time, can be added back to the next wash and cleaned up OK then.

11) How do I run a Reflux / Fractionating Still ?

See http://homedistiller.org/dtw.htm#use_reflux for details +/or variations. It is best to first equilibriate the column under total reflux for 10 minutes or so. This will concentrate up the foreshots so that they can be removed first. Collect them one drip at a time, for approx 50 mL per 25L wash, and throw away. You can then collect the remaining run at a quicker rate. Adjust the reflux ratio (the ratio of how much of the total vapour is returned as reflux) by varying either the rate of collection or rate of cooling water (depending on still design) to maintain the purity you want. You can judge the purity by measuring the vapour temperature. Target around 78.2 - 78.4 °C . Towards the end of the run it will be hard to get a high enough reflux ratio to maintain the high purity / low temperature. When the temperature has nudged up to around 80 °C quit collecting for drinking, and collect the remainder as tails (for redistillation in the next run) up to around 96 °C .

12) Can I use a Reflux Still to make Rum or Whisky ?

Yes you can. To do so, you need to carefully monitor the various transitions between the foreshots, heads, middle run, and tails, and time the collection of the middle run precisely. The reflux still allows you to more precisely judge the changes between the various stages, and hence target them accurately. A typical rum or whisky would be obtained by discarding the foreshots, then collecting the heads, middle run, and then begin the tails, until the purity has dropped to around 58-60% (82 °C). By altering when to start collecting, and how late to time the final "cut", various flavour profiles will result. You'd collect it faster and at a slightly lower reflux ratio than for a neutral spirit, as you want the flavour present.

13) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?

You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is < 1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.

14) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?

That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known as "polishing" the spirit. I'm also suspecting that you need a little bit of copper somewhere in the still where it can come in contact with the vapour. The copper helps catalyse some of the sulphur, esters & organic acids, reducing their odour & taste.

15) Why do my spirits turn cloudy when diluted ?

With neutral spirits, either you have pushed 'tails' into your product (eg collected too much product from the still - quit earlier next time), or you are using poor tap-water (high in calcium carbonate). If it happens when diluting your gin, sambuca or the like, its because there is too little alcohol/too much oil present and the oils are no longer dissolved. Either drink it cloudy or increase the % alcohol present.

Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple, straight-forward answers to questions, whereas the DISTILLERS group discussions are a bit more advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.

19) Can I run my car on it ?

You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. Because any water present will seperate out in the presence of the gasoline (and become a problem), you either need to exclusively use the alcohol, or dry it right out (eg 99%+ purity) if using it to mix with gasoline. See Steve Spences site for more details, the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual, or the The Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel. In addition, in the USA, you can get a "small fuel producer" permit, which allows small scale distilling for "motor fuel" purposes. A nice advantage is that they don't require denaturing for "fuel" used on the premises. The regulations are posted at http://webconx.green-trust.org/ethanol.htm

20) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....

To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L = 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 = 75.76 L

A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a very mediocre design. Don't make the thumper too small, and start it off with liquid already high in alcohol.

22) Can Methylated Spirits be made safe to Drink ?

No. Methylated spirits (aka meths) is a mixture of ethanol and (poisonous) methanol, with a denturant added to make it foul tasting. There is no effective way of seperating them, be it by distilling, using carbon, or filtering through bread (old wives tale). Do not add meths to anything you ever intend to distill or drink, and don't try using it in any form - it will still be poisonous. Keep it for cleaning and starting the BBQ with.

Ackland, Tony (CALNZAS)

NEW DISTILLERS Frequently Asked Questions (Feb 03) Posted near the 1st of each month, to the NEW_DISTILLERS newsgroup at www.yahoogroups.com Please email any

Message 24 of 29
, Jan 28, 2004

"NEW DISTILLERS" Frequently Asked Questions (Feb'03)

Posted near the 1st of each month, to the NEW_DISTILLERS newsgroup at www.yahoogroups.com

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I make a Turbo-all-sugar wash ?
10) How do I run a Pot still ?
11) How do I run a Reflux still ?
12) Can I use a reflux still to make rum or whisky ?
13) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
14) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
15) Why do my spirits turn cloudy when diluted ?
16) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
17) What web resources are there ?
18) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
19) Can I run my car on it ?
20) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
21) What is a "Thumper" ?
22) Can methylated spirits be made safe to drink ?

Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your belt before you begin.

2) Is it legal ?

Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential legal ramifications.

3) Will it make me blind ?

Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore, which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it is easily segregated and discarded, and easily observed via changes in the vapour temperature. A simple rule of thumb for this is to throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire - collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire extinguisher nearby.

The cases where you do hear about people poisoned by "illict spirits" have been the terrible situations where adulterants such as methanol, antifreeze, battery acid etc have been added to the spirits afterwards by unscrupulous sellers (for what misguided reasons ??). If you have had a healthy fermentation take place, it is infact very difficult to make methanol. The other problems have been lead poisoning when people have used lead-based products (ie lead solder) when constructing their still, instead of something more appropriate for food-grade vessels. The rules should infact be "dont buy spirits from an unknown supplier" - but its very safe to distill for yourself.

A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity, with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+ pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 96.48 %(by volume)), with no other tastes or impurities in it.

5) How do I get or make a still ?

If you're after a pot still, these are generally home made using what-ever you have at hand - say copper tubing and old water heaters or pressure cookers. You don't really need any plans for these - just follow any of the photos about.

Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65 °C, and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75 °C, then strain off and keep liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30 °C (should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast & leave to ferment (maintain at 26 °C) until airlock stops bubbling and final SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or until you start noticing the tails coming through. Many people also have sucess starting with a beer-kit instead of using grains.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60 g of nutrients in 20 L of water, cool to below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25 °C until below an SG of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.060 - 1.070. Run through either a pot still, or a de-refluxed reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35 g of juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing sites.

7) Should I use sugar or grains/fruit ?

It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make. If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest (usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow. If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.

Basic guidelines for using them are ..

SUGAR. Wine yeast can use no more than 2.5lbs of sugar/1imp gal or 2.2lb/1U.S.gal or 1.25kg/5litres of must. This will produce 14%a.b.v. Honey and liquid malt extract are 80% sugar so you need 1.5kg/5l must or mash. Molasses is 50% sugar so you need 2.5kg/5l must or mash. Maple syrup is 32% sugar. Carob beans are 45% sugar. Sugar beets are 15% sugar Grain malt is 60% sugar (starch converted to sugars) so you need 1.5kg/5l mash. Cooked grain contains 60% convertible starch so you need 1.5kg/5l mash

FRUIT - Grapes contain the ideal sugar, water, acid balance. A sugar content of 17-23% and a water content of about 80%. 8kg of grapes produces 5l of wine.
Most common fruits (apples, plums, apricots) contain about 10% sugar and 85% water. Cherries and figs contain 15% sugar. A fruit mash could be 4kg fruit, (400g sugar content), 2l water (3l in pulp already), 800g additional sugar.
Bananas are 17-24% sugar, 75% water. Acid content 0.3%. A banana mash could be 4kg of cooked bananas, 2l water (3l in pulp already),400g sugar. Add 3lemons/5l for correct pH.
Dates are 70% sugar, 20% water. Add acid to a date mash.
Raisins and sultanas have a water content of about 15% and a sugar content of 60%, grapes have a water content of 75% and a sugar content of about 20%, so using 1.5-2kg/5l of water appears about right if we want to reconstitute them.

ACID - 5g of citric acid (1tsp)/5l must raises acidity by 0.1%. 3g of calcium carbonate powder lowers acidity by 0.1%. A pH of 5 is 0.4% acidity. Winemakers aim for 0.6% acidity. Most common fruits are about 0.6% acid content. For distilling, a higher acidity in the mash helps to suppress bacteria. A high tannin content doesn't matter as we are not making wine. Meaurements are logarithmic, so a pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic than a pH of 5.

YEAST - Brewers (& possibly baker's yeast) can tolerate only 8% alcohol. A bottom fermenting lager yeast ferments out all the sugars better than a top fermenting ale yeast. A good wine yeast (Champagne, in the right conditions, can tolerate 15%a.b.v. (up to 18%a.b.v. in optimal conditions - no need to use expensive turbos). Wild yeasts vary, but some are very low - this is a risky path. Whisky distillers often use a combination of yeasts - initially a brewer's yeast because they believe it effects the flavor.

8) Can I use fruit wine ?

Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to neutral spirit unless you reduce the amount of reflux occuring.

9) How do I make a Turbo-all-sugar wash ?

The first trick is to locate the "Turbo" yeasts - either try the New Zealand sites, or www.brewhaus.com. Then, dissolve 5-6 kg of sugar with 2-3 L of boiling water, top up to 25 L with cold water, wait until its cooled below 24 °C, and then stir the yeast in, and close the lid with an airlock. Keep at 24 °C until the SG has dropped below 1.010 Its then possible to add extra sugar (1 kg at a time, dissolved in a little water) each time the SG has dropped below 1.010. You should be able to add an extra 3-4 kg this way over a week. It should finish around 0.980 - 0.990

10) How do I run a Pot Still ?

See http://homedistiller.org/dtw.htm#use_pot for details. A pot still is fairly straight forward to use. Turn it on. Once the temperature is up to about 60 °C turn on the cooling water to the condensor. Make sure you throw away the first 1 00 mL per 20L wash, as this will contain any methanol that might be present. Segregate the distillate into 500 mL lots as it comes off. Only keep (for drinking) that which doesn't contain fusels (smell off) - probably below about 92 ° C, however you should keep distilling past here, untill about 96 ° C, as this fraction, although high in tails and not good for drinking this time, can be added back to the next wash and cleaned up OK then.

11) How do I run a Reflux / Fractionating Still ?

See http://homedistiller.org/dtw.htm#use_reflux for details +/or variations. It is best to first equilibriate the column under total reflux for 10 minutes or so. This will concentrate up the foreshots so that they can be removed first. Collect them one drip at a time, for approx 50 mL per 25L wash, and throw away. You can then collect the remaining run at a quicker rate. Adjust the reflux ratio (the ratio of how much of the total vapour is returned as reflux) by varying either the rate of collection or rate of cooling water (depending on still design) to maintain the purity you want. You can judge the purity by measuring the vapour temperature. Target around 78.2 - 78.4 °C . Towards the end of the run it will be hard to get a high enough reflux ratio to maintain the high purity / low temperature. When the temperature has nudged up to around 80 °C quit collecting for drinking, and collect the remainder as tails (for redistillation in the next run) up to around 96 °C .

12) Can I use a Reflux Still to make Rum or Whisky ?

Yes you can. To do so, you need to carefully monitor the various transitions between the foreshots, heads, middle run, and tails, and time the collection of the middle run precisely. The reflux still allows you to more precisely judge the changes between the various stages, and hence target them accurately. A typical rum or whisky would be obtained by discarding the foreshots, then collecting the heads, middle run, and then begin the tails, until the purity has dropped to around 58-60% (82 °C). By altering when to start collecting, and how late to time the final "cut", various flavour profiles will result. You'd collect it faster and at a slightly lower reflux ratio than for a neutral spirit, as you want the flavour present.

13) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?

You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is < 1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.

14) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?

That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known as "polishing" the spirit. I'm also suspecting that you need a little bit of copper somewhere in the still where it can come in contact with the vapour. The copper helps catalyse some of the sulphur, esters & organic acids, reducing their odour & taste.

15) Why do my spirits turn cloudy when diluted ?

With neutral spirits, either you have pushed 'tails' into your product (eg collected too much product from the still - quit earlier next time), or you are using poor tap-water (high in calcium carbonate). If it happens when diluting your gin, sambuca or the like, its because there is too little alcohol/too much oil present and the oils are no longer dissolved. Either drink it cloudy or increase the % alcohol present.

Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple, straight-forward answers to questions, whereas the DISTILLERS group discussions are a bit more advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.

19) Can I run my car on it ?

You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. Because any water present will seperate out in the presence of the gasoline (and become a problem), you either need to exclusively use the alcohol, or dry it right out (eg 99%+ purity) if using it to mix with gasoline. See Steve Spences site for more details, the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual, or the The Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel. In addition, in the USA, you can get a "small fuel producer" permit, which allows small scale distilling for "motor fuel" purposes. A nice advantage is that they don't require denaturing for "fuel" used on the premises. The regulations are posted at http://webconx.green-trust.org/ethanol.htm

20) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....

To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L = 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 = 75.76 L

A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a very mediocre design. Don't make the thumper too small, and start it off with liquid already high in alcohol.

22) Can Methylated Spirits be made safe to Drink ?

No. Methylated spirits (aka meths) is a mixture of ethanol and (poisonous) methanol, with a denturant added to make it foul tasting. There is no effective way of seperating them, be it by distilling, using carbon, or filtering through bread (old wives tale). Do not add meths to anything you ever intend to distill or drink, and don't try using it in any form - it will still be poisonous. Keep it for cleaning and starting the BBQ with. Likewise, you cant "clean up" antifreeze in your still.

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I make a Turbo-all-sugar wash ?
10) How do I run a Pot still ?
11) How do I run a Reflux still ?
12) Can I use a reflux still to make rum or whisky ?
13) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
14) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
15) Why do my spirits turn cloudy when diluted ?
16) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
17) What web resources are there ?
18) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
19) Can I run my car on it ?
20) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
21) What is a "Thumper" ?
22) Can methylated spirits be made safe to drink ?

Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then you can sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you to understand what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of information under your belt before you begin.

2) Is it legal ?

Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European countries turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with punishment ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This action against it is usually the result of either religous beliefs (right or wrong), but more generally due to the great revenue base it provides Governements through excise taxes. So if you are going to distil, just be aware of the potential legal ramifications.

3) Will it make me blind ?

Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine lore, which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual documented cases. The concern is due to the presence of methanol (wood alcohol), an optic nerve poison, which can be present in small amounts when fermenting grains or fruits high in pectin. This methanol comes off first from the still, so it is easily segregated and discarded, and easily observed via changes in the vapour temperature. A simple rule of thumb for this is to throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the greatest risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire - collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire extinguisher nearby.

The cases where you do hear about people poisoned by "illict spirits" have been the terrible situations where adulterants such as methanol, antifreeze, battery acid etc have been added to the spirits afterwards by unscrupulous sellers (for what misguided reasons ??). If you have had a healthy fermentation take place, it is infact very difficult to make methanol. The other problems have been lead poisoning when people have used lead-based products (ie lead solder) when constructing their still, instead of something more appropriate for food-grade vessels. The rules should infact be "dont buy spirits from an unknown supplier" - but its very safe to distill for yourself.

A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that come off the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about 40-60% purity, with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were put through the pot still again, it would increase in purity to around 70-85% purity, and lose a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go, by having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot, and allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down through the packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising vapour and increase the % purity. The taller the packed column, and the more reflux liquid, the purer the product will be. The advantage of doing this is that it will result in a clean vodka, with little flavour to it - ideal for mixing with flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will condense all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about 9/10 back down the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-1200mm (2-4 foot), and packed with a material high in surface area, but which takes up little space (pot scrubbers are good for this). It will result in an alcohol 95%+ pure (the theoretical limit without using a vacuum is 96.48 %(by volume)), with no other tastes or impurities in it.

5) How do I get or make a still ?

If you're after a pot still, these are generally home made using what-ever you have at hand - say copper tubing and old water heaters or pressure cookers. You don't really need any plans for these - just follow any of the photos about.

Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-65 °C, and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75 °C, then strain off and keep liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains. Cool to below 30 °C (should have an initial specific gravity of 1.050). Add hydrated yeast & leave to ferment (maintain at 26 °C) until airlock stops bubbling and final SG of around 1.010. Let settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot still. Discard the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or until you start noticing the tails coming through. Many people also have sucess starting with a beer-kit instead of using grains.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60 g of nutrients in 20 L of water, cool to below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25 °C until below an SG of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon into a reflux or fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give an initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.060 - 1.070. Run through either a pot still, or a de-refluxed reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer 35 g of juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with the lid on, let cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters. Use 5-10 mL of this essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any items used are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10 mL per litre) ), or else the wash can start growing other things. Use a closed fermenter with an airlock too, to let the CO2 out without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc in. For more information about fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing sites.

7) Should I use sugar or grains/fruit ?

It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying to make. If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use whatever is cheapest (usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip out all the flavours anyhow. If you have a pot still, and are after a bourban or whiskey, then you need to go the grain route, or mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to make a neutral spirit for flavouring, go for sugar.

Basic guidelines for using them are ..

SUGAR. Wine yeast can use no more than 2.5lbs of sugar/1imp gal or 2.2lb/1U.S.gal or 1.25kg/5litres of must. This will produce 14%a.b.v. Honey and liquid malt extract are 80% sugar so you need 1.5kg/5l must or mash. Molasses is 50% sugar so you need 2.5kg/5l must or mash. Maple syrup is 32% sugar. Carob beans are 45% sugar. Sugar beets are 15% sugar Grain malt is 60% sugar (starch converted to sugars) so you need 1.5kg/5l mash. Cooked grain contains 60% convertible starch so you need 1.5kg/5l mash

FRUIT - Grapes contain the ideal sugar, water, acid balance. A sugar content of 17-23% and a water content of about 80%. 8kg of grapes produces 5l of wine.
Most common fruits (apples, plums, apricots) contain about 10% sugar and 85% water. Cherries and figs contain 15% sugar. A fruit mash could be 4kg fruit, (400g sugar content), 2l water (3l in pulp already), 800g additional sugar.
Bananas are 17-24% sugar, 75% water. Acid content 0.3%. A banana mash could be 4kg of cooked bananas, 2l water (3l in pulp already),400g sugar. Add 3lemons/5l for correct pH.
Dates are 70% sugar, 20% water. Add acid to a date mash.
Raisins and sultanas have a water content of about 15% and a sugar content of 60%, grapes have a water content of 75% and a sugar content of about 20%, so using 1.5-2kg/5l of water appears about right if we want to reconstitute them.

ACID - 5g of citric acid (1tsp)/5l must raises acidity by 0.1%. 3g of calcium carbonate powder lowers acidity by 0.1%. A pH of 5 is 0.4% acidity. Winemakers aim for 0.6% acidity. Most common fruits are about 0.6% acid content. For distilling, a higher acidity in the mash helps to suppress bacteria. A high tannin content doesn't matter as we are not making wine. Meaurements are logarithmic, so a pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic than a pH of 5.

YEAST - Brewers (& possibly baker's yeast) can tolerate only 8% alcohol. A bottom fermenting lager yeast ferments out all the sugars better than a top fermenting ale yeast. A good wine yeast (Champagne, in the right conditions, can tolerate 15%a.b.v. (up to 18%a.b.v. in optimal conditions - no need to use expensive turbos). Wild yeasts vary, but some are very low - this is a risky path. Whisky distillers often use a combination of yeasts - initially a brewer's yeast because they believe it effects the flavor.

8) Can I use fruit wine ?

Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result in a brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip it down to neutral spirit.

9) How do I make a Turbo-all-sugar wash ?

The first trick is to locate the "Turbo" yeasts - either try the New Zealand sites, or www.brewhaus.com. Then, dissolve 5-6 kg of sugar with 2-3 L of boiling water, top up to 25 L with cold water, wait until its cooled below 24 °C, and then stir the yeast in, and close the lid with an airlock. Keep at 24 °C until the SG has dropped below 1.010 Its then possible to add extra sugar (1 kg at a time, dissolved in a little water) each time the SG has dropped below 1.010. You should be able to add an extra 3-4 kg this way over a week. It should finish around 0.980 - 0.990

10) How do I run a Pot Still ?

See http://homedistiller.org/dtw.htm#use_pot for details. A pot still is fairly straight forward to use. Turn it on. Once the temperature is up to about 60 °C turn on the cooling water to the condensor. Make sure you throw away the first 1 00 mL per 20L wash, as this will contain any methanol that might be present. Segregate the distillate into 500 mL lots as it comes off. Only keep (for drinking) that which doesn't contain fusels (smell off) - probably below about 92 ° C, however you should keep distilling past here, untill about 96 ° C, as this fraction, although high in tails and not good for drinking this time, can be added back to the next wash and cleaned up OK then.

11) How do I run a Reflux / Fractionating Still ?

See http://homedistiller.org/dtw.htm#use_reflux for details +/or variations. It is best to first equilibriate the column under total reflux for 10 minutes or so. This will concentrate up the foreshots so that they can be removed first. Collect them one drip at a time, for approx 50 mL per 25L wash, and throw away. You can then collect the remaining run at a quicker rate. Adjust the reflux ratio (the ratio of how much of the total vapour is returned as reflux) by varying either the rate of collection or rate of cooling water (depending on still design) to maintain the purity you want. You can judge the purity by measuring the vapour temperature. Target around 78.2 - 78.4 °C . Towards the end of the run it will be hard to get a high enough reflux ratio to maintain the high purity / low temperature. When the temperature has nudged up to around 80 °C quit collecting for drinking, and collect the remainder as tails (for redistillation in the next run) up to around 96 °C .

12) Can I use a Reflux Still to make Rum or Whisky ?

Yes you can. To do so, you need to carefully monitor the various transitions between the foreshots, heads, middle run, and tails, and time the collection of the middle run precisely. The reflux still allows you to more precisely judge the changes between the various stages, and hence target them accurately. A typical rum or whisky would be obtained by discarding the foreshots, then collecting the heads, middle run, and then begin the tails, until the purity has dropped to around 58-60% (82 °C). By altering when to start collecting, and how late to time the final "cut", various flavour profiles will result. You'd collect it faster and at a slightly lower reflux ratio than for a neutral spirit, as you want the flavour present.

13) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?

You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it. The more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the liquid, so the hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off the scale how much alcohol is present. You need a seperate hydrometer for measuring the density of the mash, as this is generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is < 1.0, and they can't accurately do both ends of the scale.

14) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?

That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is due to impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as cogeners or fusel oils. These will be present more when using a pot still, less if using a reflux still, and just about absent if using a fractionating column. So one way is to use a taller packed column and increase the amount of reflux occuring. They can also indicate that you've tried to collect too much of the alcohol, and have run into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little bit earlier next time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a week (or even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known as "polishing" the spirit. I'm also suspecting that you need a little bit of copper somewhere in the still where it can come in contact with the vapour. The copper helps catalyse some of the sulphur, esters & organic acids, reducing their odour & taste.

15) Why do my spirits turn cloudy when diluted ?

With neutral spirits, either you have pushed 'tails' into your product (eg collected too much product from the still - quit earlier next time), or you are using poor tap-water (high in calcium carbonate). If it happens when diluting your gin, sambuca or the like, its because there is too little alcohol/too much oil present and the oils are no longer dissolved. Either drink it cloudy or increase the % alcohol present.

Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available via YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is, as the name suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling and after simple, straight-forward answers to questions, whereas the DISTILLERS group discussions are a bit more advanced, throwing in bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative ways of achieving the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.

19) Can I run my car on it ?

You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. Because any water present will seperate out in the presence of the gasoline (and become a problem), you either need to exclusively use the alcohol, or dry it right out (eg 99%+ purity) if using it to mix with gasoline. See Steve Spences site for more details, the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual, or the The Manual for the Home and Farm Production of Alcohol Fuel. In addition, in the USA, you can get a "small fuel producer" permit, which allows small scale distilling for "motor fuel" purposes. A nice advantage is that they don't require denaturing for "fuel" used on the premises. The regulations are posted at http://webconx.green-trust.org/ethanol.htm

20) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....

To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by the conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in reverse .eg 1L = 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal, and 20 US gal / 0.264 = 75.76 L

A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It can be as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-take from the still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all the way to the bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid (water or mash or tails) so that the vapour from the still will bubble up through it; then the vapour coming off it is collected & cooled as per normal. It acts as a second distilling chamber using just the heat from the vapour, and lifts the purity from 50-60% to 70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a very mediocre design. Don't make the thumper too small, and start it off with liquid already high in alcohol.

22) Can Methylated Spirits be made safe to Drink ?

No. Methylated spirits (aka meths) is a mixture of ethanol and (poisonous) methanol, with a denturant added to make it foul tasting. There is no effective way of seperating them, be it by distilling, using carbon, or filtering through bread (old wives tale). Do not add meths to anything you ever intend to distill or drink, and don't try using it in any form - it will still be poisonous. Keep it for cleaning and starting the BBQ with. Likewise, you cant "clean up" antifreeze in your still.

1) Is distilling hard to do ?
2) Is it legal ?
3) Will it make me blind ?
4) Whats the difference between a pot still, reflux still, and
fractionating column ?
5) How do I get or make a still ?
6) How do I make a whisky / rum / vodka / gin ?
7) Should I use sugar or grains ?
8) Can I use fruit wine ?
9) How do I make a Turbo-all-sugar wash ?
10) How do I run a Pot still ?
11) How do I run a Reflux still ?
12) Can I use a reflux still to make rum or whisky ?
13) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?
14) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?
15) Why do my spirits turn cloudy when diluted ?
16) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?
17) What web resources are there ?
18) How do I contact the NEW DISTILLERS news group ?
19) Can I run my car on it ?
20) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....
21) What is a "Thumper" ?
22) Can methylated spirits be made safe to drink ?

Nope - if you can follow instructions enough to bake scones, then
you can sucessfully distil. To distil well however, will require you
to understand what you're doing, so read around and get a bit of
information under your belt before you begin.

2) Is it legal ?

Probably not. It is only legal in New Zealand, and some European
countries turn a blind eye to it, but elsewhere it is illegal, with
punishment ranging from fines to imprisonment or floggings. This
action against it is usually the result of either religous beliefs
(right or wrong), but more generally due to the great revenue base
it provides Governements through excise taxes. So if you are going
to distil, just be aware of the potential legal ramifications.

3) Will it make me blind ?

Not if you're careful. This pervasive question is due to moonshine
lore, which abounds with myths of blindness, but few actual
documented cases. The concern is due to the presence of methanol
(wood alcohol), an optic nerve poison, which can be present in small
amounts when fermenting grains or fruits high in pectin. This
methanol comes off first from the still, so it is easily segregated
and discarded, and easily observed via changes in the vapour
temperature. A simple rule of thumb for this is to throw away the
first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used). Probably the greatest
risk to your health during distilling is the risk of fire -
collecting a flammable liquid near a heat source. So keep a fire
extinguisher nearby.

The cases where you do hear about people poisoned by "illict
spirits" have been the terrible situations where adulterants such as
methanol, antifreeze, battery acid etc have been added to the
spirits afterwards by unscrupulous sellers (for what misguided
reasons ??). If you have had a healthy fermentation take place, it
is infact very difficult to make methanol. The other problems have
been lead poisoning when people have used lead-based products (ie
lead solder) when constructing their still, instead of something
more appropriate for food-grade vessels. The rules should infact
be "dont buy spirits from an unknown supplier" - but its very safe
to distill for yourself.

A pot still simply collects and condenses the alcohol vapours that
come off the boiling mash. This will result in an alcohol at about
40-60% purity, with plenty of flavour in it. If this distillate were
put through the pot still again, it would increase in purity to
around 70-85% purity, and lose a bit of its flavour.

A reflux still does these multiple distillations in one single go,
by having some packing in a column between the condensor & the pot,
and allowing some of the vapour to condense and trickle back down
through the packing. This "reflux" of liquid helps clean the rising
vapour and increase the % purity. The taller the packed column, and
the more reflux liquid, the purer the product will be. The advantage
of doing this is that it will result in a clean vodka, with little
flavour to it - ideal for mixing with flavours etc.

A fractionating column is a pure form of the reflux still. It will
condense all the vapour at the top of the packing, and return about
9/10 back down the column. The column will be quite tall - say 600-
1200mm (2-4 foot), and packed with a material high in surface area,
but which takes up little space (pot scrubbers are good for this).
It will result in an alcohol 95%+ pure (the theoretical limit
without using a vacuum is 96.48 %(by volume)), with no other tastes
or impurities in it.

5) How do I get or make a still ?

If you're after a pot still, these are generally home made using
what-ever you have at hand - say copper tubing and old water heaters
or pressure cookers. You don't really need any plans for these -
just follow any of the photos about.

Reflux stills can be made from plans on the net, or bought from
several manufacturers. For reflux still plans see
The photos section at http://homedistiller.org/photos-ns.htm
for "Offset head" designs, and http://homedistiller.org/photos-
reflux.htm for general reflux stills.
Alex's designs at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Distillers/files/OFTS/
StillCookers http://us.geocities.com/stillcooker/
Stillmakers "Build a World Class Distillation Apparatus" at
http://www.Moonshine-Still.com (Free!) or
Gert Strands : http://partyman.se/Engelsk/default.htm (US$5).
Ian Smileys "Making Pure Corn Whisky" at http://www.home-
distilling.com , with full design details.

For an excellent book on all aspects of still design, see "The
Compleat Distiller" at http://www.amphora-society.com.
See the list of "web resources" below for links to sites selling
ready-made stills.

For fuel alcohol stills see the Mother Earth Alcohol Fuel manual at
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/meToC
.html, and the The Manual for the Home and Farm Production of
Alcohol Fuel by S.W. Mathewson at
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_manual/manual_ToC
.html
Regarding the choice of heating for the still - if you have 240V
available it is usually easiest to control & safer (particularly
with internal elements). Gas can be used, but more care is needed to
keep the collection container further away and not letting it
overfill.

For more details on design, see http://homedistiller.org/designs.htm
and http://homedistiller.org/refluxdesign.htm.

6) How do I make a whisky / vodka / rum / gin ?

Whiskey : Heat 4 kg cracked or crushed malt with 18 L of water to 63-
65 °C, and hold there for 1-1.5 hours. Heat to 73-75 °C, then strain
off and keep liquid, using 250 mL of hot water to rinse the grains.
Cool to below 30 °C (should have an initial specific gravity of
1.050). Add hydrated yeast & leave to ferment (maintain at 26 °C)
until airlock stops bubbling and final SG of around 1.010. Let
settle for a day, then syphon carefully into a pot still. Discard
the first 50 mL's, collect the next 2-3L of distillate or until you
start noticing the tails coming through. Many people also have
sucess starting with a beer-kit instead of using grains.

Vodka : dissolve 5 kg of sugar & 60 g of nutrients in 20 L of water,
cool to below 30C and add hydrated yeast. Leave to ferment at 25 °C
until below an SG of around 0.990, then settle for a day. Syphon
into a reflux or fractionating still, and collect as per usual.

Rum : as per vodka, but use some brown sugar or mollasses, to give
an initial specific gravity (SG) of around 1.060 - 1.070. Run
through either a pot still, or a de-refluxed reflux still.

Gin : make a very pure vodka, then add the following essence. Simmer
35 g of juniper berries in 350 mL of 50% vodka for ten minutes with
the lid on, let cool overnight, then filter through coffee filters.
Use 5-10 mL of this essence per bottle of vodka.

When doing any fermenting, take a lot of care to ensure that any
items used are clean/sterile (soaking them in a water + bleach (10
mL per litre) ), or else the wash can start growing other things.
Use a closed fermenter with an airlock too, to let the CO2 out
without letting wild yeasts, bugs etc in. For more information about
fermenting, see beer or wine homebrewing sites.

7) Should I use sugar or grains/fruit ?

It depends on what sort of still you have, and what you are trying
to make. If you have a reflux or fractionating still, only use
whatever is cheapest (usually sugar), as the refluxing will strip
out all the flavours anyhow. If you have a pot still, and are after
a bourban or whiskey, then you need to go the grain route, or
mollasses if after a rum. If you are trying to make a neutral spirit
for flavouring, go for sugar.

Basic guidelines for using them are ..

SUGAR. Wine yeast can use no more than 2.5lbs of sugar/1imp gal or
2.2lb/1U.S.gal or 1.25kg/5litres of must. This will produce 14%
a.b.v. Honey and liquid malt extract are 80% sugar so you need
1.5kg/5l must or mash. Molasses is 50% sugar so you need 2.5kg/5l
must or mash. Maple syrup is 32% sugar. Carob beans are 45% sugar.
Sugar beets are 15% sugar Grain malt is 60% sugar (starch converted
to sugars) so you need 1.5kg/5l mash. Cooked grain contains 60%
convertible starch so you need 1.5kg/5l mash

FRUIT - Grapes contain the ideal sugar, water, acid balance. A sugar
content of 17-23% and a water content of about 80%. 8kg of grapes
produces 5l of wine.
Most common fruits (apples, plums, apricots) contain about 10% sugar
and 85% water. Cherries and figs contain 15% sugar. A fruit mash
could be 4kg fruit, (400g sugar content), 2l water (3l in pulp
already), 800g additional sugar.
Bananas are 17-24% sugar, 75% water. Acid content 0.3%. A banana
mash could be 4kg of cooked bananas, 2l water (3l in pulp
already),400g sugar. Add 3lemons/5l for correct pH.
Dates are 70% sugar, 20% water. Add acid to a date mash.
Raisins and sultanas have a water content of about 15% and a sugar
content of 60%, grapes have a water content of 75% and a sugar
content of about 20%, so using 1.5-2kg/5l of water appears about
right if we want to reconstitute them.

ACID - 5g of citric acid (1tsp)/5l must raises acidity by 0.1%. 3g
of calcium carbonate powder lowers acidity by 0.1%. A pH of 5 is
0.4% acidity. Winemakers aim for 0.6% acidity. Most common fruits
are about 0.6% acid content. For distilling, a higher acidity in the
mash helps to suppress bacteria. A high tannin content doesn't
matter as we are not making wine. Meaurements are logarithmic, so a
pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic than a pH of 5.

YEAST - Brewers (& possibly baker's yeast) can tolerate only 8%
alcohol. A bottom fermenting lager yeast ferments out all the sugars
better than a top fermenting ale yeast. A good wine yeast
(Champagne, in the right conditions, can tolerate 15%a.b.v. (up to
18%a.b.v. in optimal conditions - no need to use expensive turbos).
Wild yeasts vary, but some are very low - this is a risky path.
Whisky distillers often use a combination of yeasts - initially a
brewer's yeast because they believe it effects the flavor.

8) Can I use fruit wine ?

Sure, if you have it available. Again, using a pot still will result
in a brandy/grappa/schnapps, whereas a reflux still will just strip
it down to neutral spirit.

9) How do I make a Turbo-all-sugar wash ?

The first trick is to locate the "Turbo" yeasts - either try the New
Zealand sites, or www.brewhaus.com. Then, dissolve 5-6 kg of sugar
with 2-3 L of boiling water, top up to 25 L with cold water, wait
until its cooled below 24 °C, and then stir the yeast in, and close
the lid with an airlock. Keep at 24 °C until the SG has dropped
below 1.010 Its then possible to add extra sugar (1 kg at a time,
dissolved in a little water) each time the SG has dropped below
1.010. You should be able to add an extra 3-4 kg this way over a
week. It should finish around 0.980 - 0.990

10) How do I run a Pot Still ?

See http://homedistiller.org/dtw.htm#use_pot for details. A pot
still is fairly straight forward to use. Turn it on. Once the
temperature is up to about 60 °C turn on the cooling water to the
condensor. Make sure you throw away the first 1 00 mL per 20L wash,
as this will contain any methanol that might be present. Segregate
the distillate into 500 mL lots as it comes off. Only keep (for
drinking) that which doesn't contain fusels (smell off) - probably
below about 92 ° C, however you should keep distilling past here,
untill about 96 ° C, as this fraction, although high in tails and
not good for drinking this time, can be added back to the next wash
and cleaned up OK then.

11) How do I run a Reflux / Fractionating Still ?

See http://homedistiller.org/dtw.htm#use_reflux for details +/or
variations. It is best to first equilibriate the column under total
reflux for 10 minutes or so. This will concentrate up the foreshots
so that they can be removed first. Collect them one drip at a time,
for approx 50 mL per 25L wash, and throw away. You can then collect
the remaining run at a quicker rate. Adjust the reflux ratio (the
ratio of how much of the total vapour is returned as reflux) by
varying either the rate of collection or rate of cooling water
(depending on still design) to maintain the purity you want. You can
judge the purity by measuring the vapour temperature. Target around
78.2 - 78.4 °C . Towards the end of the run it will be hard to get a
high enough reflux ratio to maintain the high purity / low
temperature. When the temperature has nudged up to around 80 °C quit
collecting for drinking, and collect the remainder as tails (for
redistillation in the next run) up to around 96 °C .

12) Can I use a Reflux Still to make Rum or Whisky ?

Yes you can. To do so, you need to carefully monitor the various
transitions between the foreshots, heads, middle run, and tails, and
time the collection of the middle run precisely. The reflux still
allows you to more precisely judge the changes between the various
stages, and hence target them accurately. A typical rum or whisky
would be obtained by discarding the foreshots, then collecting the
heads, middle run, and then begin the tails, until the purity has
dropped to around 58-60% (82 °C). By altering when to start
collecting, and how late to time the final "cut", various flavour
profiles will result. You'd collect it faster and at a slightly
lower reflux ratio than for a neutral spirit, as you want the
flavour present.

13) How do I measure the strength of it & dilute it ?

You need a hydrometer. This is a wee float, with a scale inside it.
The more alcohol that is present, the lighter the density of the
liquid, so the hydrometer sinks a bit lower. You then just read off
the scale how much alcohol is present. You need a seperate
hydrometer for measuring the density of the mash, as this is
generally > 1.0, whereas the spirit is < 1.0, and they can't
accurately do both ends of the scale.

14) How do I get rid of that "off-taste" ?

That "rough moonshine edge" or "off-taste / wet cardboard smell" is
due to impurities such as the higher order alcohols, known as
cogeners or fusel oils. These will be present more when using a pot
still, less if using a reflux still, and just about absent if using
a fractionating column. So one way is to use a taller packed column
and increase the amount of reflux occuring. They can also indicate
that you've tried to collect too much of the alcohol, and have run
into the "tails"; so finish collecting a little bit earlier next
time. Soaking tainted alcohol with activated carbon for a week (or
even months) will help remove some of this flavour - this is known
as "polishing" the spirit. I'm also suspecting that you need a
little bit of copper somewhere in the still where it can come in
contact with the vapour. The copper helps catalyse some of the
sulphur, esters & organic acids, reducing their odour & taste.

15) Why do my spirits turn cloudy when diluted ?

With neutral spirits, either you have pushed 'tails' into your
product (eg collected too much product from the still - quit earlier
next time), or you are using poor tap-water (high in calcium
carbonate). If it happens when diluting your gin, sambuca or the
like, its because there is too little alcohol/too much oil present
and the oils are no longer dissolved. Either drink it cloudy or
increase the % alcohol present.

16) How do I flavour/turn the vodka's into something else ?

There are now many commercial flavourings available, which turn
vodka or neutral alcohol into pretty decent gin or whiskey, or all
manor of liqueurs. See the commercial sites, like Des Zines
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~topkiwi or Ray Toms
http://moonshine.co.nz/ for details. Or you can soak it with oak
chips and make whiskey, or soak fruits in it to make your own
liqueurs. There are many websites describing how to make liqueurs -
see http://homedistiller.org/liqueurs.htm or
http://www.guntheranderson.com for a starting point.

Both the NEW DISTILLERS and the DISTILLERS news groups are available
via YahooGroups, at http://www.yahoogroups.com . NEW DISTILLERS is,
as the name suggests, intended for those of you new to distilling
and after simple, straight-forward answers to questions, whereas the
DISTILLERS group discussions are a bit more advanced, throwing in
bits of design philosophy, theory, and alternative ways of achieving
the results. Both tend to overlap to some extent.

19) Can I run my car on it ?

You can run your car on alcohol over about 80% purity. Because any
water present will seperate out in the presence of the gasoline (and
become a problem), you either need to exclusively use the alcohol,
or dry it right out (eg 99%+ purity) if using it to mix with
gasoline. See Steve Spences site for more details, the Mother Earth
Alcohol Fuel manual, or the The Manual for the Home and Farm
Production of Alcohol Fuel. In addition, in the USA, you can get
a "small fuel producer" permit, which allows small scale distilling
for "motor fuel" purposes. A nice advantage is that they don't
require denaturing for "fuel" used on the premises. The regulations
are posted at http://webconx.green-trust.org/ethanol.htm

20) How do I convert between gallons and litres and ....

To convert between SI & Imperial units, multiply the first unit by
the conversion factor to get the second. Divide back to do it in
reverse .eg 1L = 0.264 US gal, so 20 L = 20 x 0.264 = 5.28 US gal,
and 20 US gal / 0.264 = 75.76 L

A "thumper" is an extra chamber sometimes fitted to a pot still. It
can be as simple as a glass jar with two holes in the lid. The off-
take from the still is fed into it, with the pipe running almost all
the way to the bottom of the jar; the jar is half filled with liquid
(water or mash or tails) so that the vapour from the still will
bubble up through it; then the vapour coming off it is collected &
cooled as per normal. It acts as a second distilling chamber using
just the heat from the vapour, and lifts the purity from 50-60% to
70-80%, hence improving what might otherwise be a very mediocre
design. Don't make the thumper too small, and start it off with
liquid already high in alcohol.

22) Can Methylated Spirits be made safe to Drink ?

No. Methylated spirits (aka meths) is a mixture of ethanol and
(poisonous) methanol, with a denturant added to make it foul
tasting. There is no effective way of seperating them, be it by
distilling, using carbon, or filtering through bread (old wives
tale). Do not add meths to anything you ever intend to distill or
drink, and don't try using it in any form - it will still be
poisonous. Keep it for cleaning and starting the BBQ with. Likewise,
you cant "clean up" antifreeze in your still.

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